


Rebloom

by CrazyTanya



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Fantasy, Few deaths will occur, Fluff and Humor, Kageyama is adopted, Light Angst, M/M, Original au, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2018-05-10
Packaged: 2019-02-20 05:43:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 27,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13140276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrazyTanya/pseuds/CrazyTanya
Summary: Kageyama Tobio is a normal, sophomore boy with a somewhat normal life. Then a strange boy with ridiculously red hair bursts in, making his life not normal at all and everyone he knows begins to act weird and secretive afterwards.It's driving him mad. What's everyone hiding?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [majesticartax](https://archiveofourown.org/users/majesticartax/gifts).



> Aaah! This is my first work ever, so I hope it's good enough for a beginner. <3 Hoping for people who'll actually read this will enjoy it. (And thank you so much for reading?!)  
> The first few chapters will be mostly explaining a lot of things and building up towards the main plot. Hope you guys will understand and still be entertained. :)  
> Also, I gifted this work to @majesticartax , for she's an AMAZING and INCREDIBLE kagehina writer and one of the few people who are inspiring me to become a writer myself.  
> And sorry if there's any mistakes here and there that I didn't catch!

“Tobiooo!~”

Kageyama suddenly woke up to seeing Oikawa’s face plastered up against his window with a stupid grin.

“What the hell are you doing?” he mumbled groggily, sitting up on his bed. “And how did you even get up there?”

“Do you have any idea what time it is?” Oikawa answered, opening up the window and hopping inside.

Kageyama turned his head towards the clock and read: _6:20 a.m._

He jumped up, wide awake. “Shit!”

 _Why didn’t Hitoka wake me up?_ He thought as he rushed into his closet and began foraging for his uniform.

“And maybe you should lock up your window? You know, to keep murderers from coming in and stuff?” Oikawa suggested.

“To keep stupidity from coming in? Sounds good to me,” Kageyama mocked.

“How very nice of you, Tobio,” Oikawa said sarcastically, and made himself comfortable on Kageyama’s bed. He stared at him as he struggled with putting on his black pants while making his way to the bathroom at the same time to quickly brush his teeth.

Kageyama caught eye of this. “Pervert. did you forget you have a boyfriend?”

He finally got the stupid pants on, then slid into his white collared shirt, not bothering to button it up just yet.

Oikawa scowled. “Shut it. it’s not like i haven’t seen you in your underwear before.”

“I know,” Kageyama responded, squirting toothpaste onto his toothbrush, “But it’s just weird if you stare like that.”

“And it’s weird if you just go around and slap somebody’s ass when they’re not looking,” He riposted, “Now _that’s_ a pervert.”

Kageyama scoffed and then observed the little white spots of foam he created on the mirror afterwards from the gesture. He snatched up the hand towel beside the sink and wiped them off.

 _Damn it_ , he thought as he saw that it did nothing but smear the spots across the mirror, making it worse. He sighed. _Oh well, I’ll clean it up when i get back from school._

“How dare you,” Kageyama finally answered back after cleansing out the toothpaste in his mouth. “That’s me showing my love to you and Iwaizumi, you know.”

Oikawa rolled his eyes. “Oh really?”

“Yes, really. You two are the only ones that I do that to.”

“Oh boy, do I feel special!”

Kageyama got out from the bathroom and began to button up his shirt. “Speaking of which, where’s Iwaizumi? Is he waiting outside?”

“Godzilla went ahead to school, since he didn’t wanna be late.”

“Doesn’t that go for you, too?”

“Meh,” He replied, peeling himself off the bed and shrugging his shoulders. “I’m always late.”

Kageyama shook his head. He put on his blue jacket, then grabbed his backpack. “Let’s go.”

 

 

Kageyama had his eyes glued to the window beside him, observing the petals as they flew from the cherry blossom trees and were swept away by the breeze.

He caught Oikawa shifting his way up onto one of the trees, then settling himself on a branch that was large enough to lay on. He’d always skip 4th period to do that when the cherry blossoms were in season. It was a habit of his ever since they've met.

Kageyama never understood why he did it, but he also never questioned it. The guy was a weirdo, after all.

“You alright, Kageyama?”

Kageyama snapped his head to the direction of the voice and was greeted with grey eyes looking at him in concern.

“Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit tired, that's all.”

“I keep telling you not to go to sleep so late, stupid.”

“You have bags under your eyes, Tanaka. Am I really suppose to be the one you're saying that to?”

Tanaka rolled his eyes at him. “I stay up because of work. You just watch YouTube videos and Netflix.”

Kageyama flicked him on his widow’s peak. “Oh yeah, I'm _sure_ that's what keeps you up so late.”

Tanaka flipped him off and Kageyama snickered.

Class ended after a few more torturous minutes going over something about linear and quadratic functions. Then lunch finally came.

As Kageyama was taking his lunch out of his backpack, he sees a green bento box and a black one be placed down onto his desk. He looked up to find Oikawa and Iwaizumi looming over him.

“Heyo!” Oikawa voiced cheerfully.

“Hey,” Iwaizumi says, giving a nod towards his way.

Both boys pulled a chair towards themselves and plopped down onto it.

Kageyama noticed Tanaka looking at the two with plain annoyance before going on ahead to another class to eat with other friends. He, Oikawa, and Iwaizumi don't really get along with one another. Well, more like Tanaka doesn't want to. Tanaka never liked them since the first day Kageyama introduced the three boys to each other. Oikawa and Iwaizumi have just decided to ignore him and act like he doesn't exist.

“Why don't you like them, Tanaka?” Kageyama had asked him one day after he came back from the restroom with the boy ranting about how Oikawa had bumped into him when he was going out and he was going in and he didn't apologize for it.

“Because they're rude and conceited and jerks and idiots and—”

“Alright, alright, jeez.”

“I honestly can't see why you're friends with them.”

“Hey,” Kageyama warned.

“Sorry,” Tanaka said, lowering his head. He sighed. “I know that it isn't fair for me to say who you can and can't be friends with. You guys have been friends since elementary years and you know them way better than I do. I'm also aware that they've done a lot for you.”

Kageyama dropped his head back and stared up at the ceiling. “It's okay. I know that you once mentioned about how you happened to cross paths with them one day and it wasn't the best way to start off.”

He peeked over at Tanaka. He had his eyes closed.

“I just hope that one day you guys could eventually become good friends, or even acquaintances.”

Tanaka opened his eyes and looked at him, his face going dark.

“That will _never_ happen. I'm sorry, but what they did to me was unforgivable.”

Kageyama didn't say anything else after that. It was also the last time Kageyama brought it up. Tanaka never did tell him about the unforgivable thing that Oikawa and Iwaizumi did to him. Kageyama never asked the other two about it either. He knew where the conversation would end up at anyways.

Oikawa opened up his bento box, which consisted of sushi, apple juice, and a giant loaf of milk bread.

Kageyama scrunched up his face in disgust. “How can you just eat random things together? And don’t you get sick of always eating milk bread?”

Oikawa shoved a piece of sushi in his mouth along with a piece of milk bread. “Mil breath tath goo wit evewythang.”

“Don’t speak with your mouth full, idiot,” Kageyama commanded, watching as crumbs spat out of Oikawa’s mouth.

“Did you drink a whole bottle of water already, Tobio?” Iwaizumi asked, taking a bite out of his rice ball. He always ate rice balls. Kageyama never understood why those two were able to eat a certain food every single day.

“No, not yet,” Kageyama sighed.

When he was 5 years old, he was diagnosed with major heat exhaustion. Due to that, he was instructed to drink an entire bottle of water every two hours so he won’t get a heat stroke. Not really an issue, but it does get tiring to be drinking so much water in a day, everyday.

He opened up his backpack and plucked out a water bottle. He opened it and chugged it down quickly. So tasteless.

Oikawa raised an eyebrow. “Why do you look like you just drank something that was mixed with shit? It’s just water.”

“Shut up,” Kageyama snapped, giving him an annoyed glare. “Water just doesn’t taste good when you really don’t want to drink some at the moment.” He wrinkled his nose. “And why the hell would you say shit? That’s just downright nasty.”

“When it’s mine, it’s not,” Oikawa said, smiling and throwing a wink towards him.

Kageyama tried his best not to spit out the pieces of skewer he just put in his mouth. Iwaizumi stared at Oikawa with a despondent face and said, “Why the fuck am I dating you.”

Oikawa smiled in the way that showed off his dimples a lot more. “Mmm~, because you can’t resist this beauty of mine that’s why.”

Iwaizumi smacked him across the head hard enough to send it down onto Kageyama’s desk with a really loud _BANG_!

“OWW!” Oikawa yelled and immediately put both his hands on his throbbing forehead.  
Kageyama started laughing out loud and Iwaizumi looked surprised for a minute, hadn't intended on hitting him that hard, but quickly recovered, putting on a straight face.

“That’s what you get, you idiot.”

“That was way too hard!”

“Hard? I wasn't even trying. You’re just weak.”

“You’re fucking mean, you know that?”

Oikawa pouted, crossing his arms against his chest.

“Why thank you, sweetie,” Iwaizumi replied back, giving him a big smile and a kiss on the cheek.

Oikawa pushed him back, twisting his head in the opposite direction. Iwaizumi began kissing him on the back of his neck, which made Oikawa lean away from him as far as he could until Iwaizumi wasn't able to reach him anymore.

“Aww, you guys are so cute,” Kageyama jested, putting a hand on top of his chest.  
The bell suddenly rang, signaling that lunch has ended.

Oikawa shot up, picked up his bento box and backpack, and went straight back to his classroom.

“Aww, baby! You’re not gonna wait for me?” Iwaizumi called out, spreading out his arms.  
Oikawa kept on walking and disappeared around the corner.

Iwaizumi shook his head and chuckled. He put away his bento box into his backpack and swung it onto one shoulder. He put both his and Oikawa’s chair back to where they had originally been and then looked at Kageyama. “we’ll meet you after school, Tobio.”

Kageyama smiled. “Alright. See you.”

 

 

“I swear, sometimes I just wanna murder you for being so stupid.”

“You wouldn’t!”

“Oh yes I would!”

“Would not!”

“Tch, fuck you.”

“Okay then, what time?”

Kageyama watched from behind as Oikawa piggyback rode Iwaizumi. At some point during the walk, Oikawa tripped over nothing (yes, fucking _nothing_ ; how more clumsy can he be?) which resulted in him spraining his ankle.

“You’re unbelievable to deal with.”

Oikawa hummed and laid his chin on one of his hands that were resting upon Iwaizumi’s shoulders. “But here you are, still with me.”

Iwaizumi went quiet for a few seconds.

“We’re breaking up then.”

A slap across his back was his reply.

“Hajime! Don’t play around like that!”

“I’m not playing around at all and don’t call me by my first name. We’re not together anymore.”

sniff, sniff.

Iwaizumi froze. “Oikawa, are you actually—”  
“Put me down right now!”

“Wait—”

“Put! Me! Down!” syncing the words with the fists pounding against Iwaizumi’s shoulder blades.

Iwaizumi groaned out loud. “I’m not gonna because I wasn’t serious you drama queen. Learn to take a joke, jeez…”

He began walking again and silence was now upon Oikawa.

“....That groan was actually kind of se—”

“oh my god, Tooru, shut up before I really mean it this time.”

Oikawa laughed, wrapping his arms around his neck. He gave him a soft squeeze and nuzzled his nose into his hair. “I'm just playing with you. Don’t be such a meanie.”

Iwaizumi blushed madly from the gesture and started to babble under his breath about how Oikawa can act so annoyingly cute when he got mad and how he wanted to punch him in that pretty little face of his for it.

Are Kageyama’s walks to home with these two psychos always like this? Most of the time. Peace and quiet isn’t in either of those morons’ vocabulary.

“Alright, you love birds!” Kageyama called out loudly enough to get their attention. “I’m going to be taking the shortcut home today, so see ya.”

Iwaizumi didn’t stop walking until reaching the Sakanoshita store, then turned around.

"And why is that?”

“So I don’t have to listen to you idiots bickering on and on. Need a better reason?”

Iwaizumi sighed and then looked up over his shoulder at Oikawa. Both boys began to whisper to one another.

It went on for awhile until Kageyama finally interrupted them with a sigh and a roll of his eyes. “Mom, Dad, Nothing's going to happen to me. It’s just a shortcut to my house. It's not like someone’s gonna jump out of nowhere and take me away to Jupiter.”

Both boys looked at him with irked expressions.

“Fine, go on ahead,” Iwaizumi finally said. Oikawa looked at him with a face that showed he clearly doesn't agree with that decision.

“Hajime, we can’t just let him—”

“Bye, Tobio.”

He turned on his heel and started walking once more with Oikawa yelling things at him like, “Don’t ignore me like that!”, and, “We can’t leave him alone!”, with iwaizumi replying back, “He’ll be fine, damn it,” which Kageyama never understood all the hassling.

Were they always worried about him because of his condition? Although once he thought about it, he always pushed it to the side as quick as it came by since that never seemed to fit as an explanation towards when the two acted this way. There was a time where he and his family went on a vacation to Miami, Florida, USA, and he almost had a heart attack at the beach when he noticed two heads half inside the water just staring at him. He found out later that those two heads belonged to Oikawa and Iwaizumi. (they both received a painful punch from him.)

Then there was this other time when he was at an acquaintance's little brother’s birthday party. After they sang Happy Birthday and turned on the lights, that’s when Kageyama noticed two, oh-so-obvious boys sitting near a corner wearing stupid blue party hats and shooting him glances every five seconds.

And that’s just two out of many others. There are way more situations where it makes Oikawa and Iwaizumi look like hardcore stalkers. But once the two were caught, they always gave off poor excuses such as “We figured you’ll be lonely without us so we came along too”, “Thought it’ll be fun to surprise you”, or “Just because.” (The last one always just pissed Kageyama off even more and made him give each bastard an extra punch to the stomach.)

Even though they annoyed the shit out of Kageyama and he will never be able to wrap his head around that strange act of theirs, he wouldn’t replace them for the world. They’ve been there for him ever since he was ten years old all the way up to now, sixteen. They’ve seen his best and worst moments, know things that he’s never told anyone else, always listened contently to all the long or short rants he would spew out to them, and never shut him down on anything, but encouraged him. They were his bestest friends. They were his brothers.

Kageyama watched the two go until they vanished from his sight. His phone suddenly beeped, signaling that someone texted him.

 

From: Hitoka Yachi

Subject: Re: FOOD!!

_Where are you right now?_

 

His sister. He typed a reply.

 

To: Hitoka Yachi

Subject: Re: FOOD!!

_I’m right in front of the Sakanoshita store. Why? You want me to get something?_

  
From: Hitoka Yachi

Subject: Re: FOOD!!

_Yes! Mind bringing home some pork buns for dinner? Mom isn’t going to be back in time for dinner, so she said we could get some take out if we wanted to._

  
To: Hitoka Yachi

Subject: Re: FOOD!!

_Alright then. See you in a bit._

  
From: Hitoka Yachi

Subject: Re: FOOD!!

_Ok! Byeeee~_

  
Kageyama stared down at his phone for awhile until he suddenly felt himself start breathing heavily, his heart beating against his chest, and a slight pain in his head.

Shoving the phone away in his front pocket, Kageyama took out a bottle of water from his backpack, and quickly drank the whole thing. He closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. Much better.

He went inside the store, the door making a clink sound as he opened it.

“What’s up, lil' gent?”

He turned his attention towards the voice and was met with a face smiling from ear to ear.

“Hey, Mr. Ukai,” Kageyama greeted, giving him a smile back. “I’m doing fine. How about you?”

Mr. Ukai grunted. “Bored. People haven’t been coming to the store lately.”

“Is that so?” Kageyama said, grabbing two Coca-cola bottles from the fridge and a Hot Cheetos and Funyuns bag. He walked up to the counter. “Then I’ll be buying this and ten pork buns, please.”

Mr. Ukai blew out a long-pitched whistle. “Well damn. You and whoever you’re buying for are beasts.”

Kageyama laughed, grabbing the bag of pork buns from him. “My sister has one big appetite. I'll see you around, Mr. Ukai.”

“Have a safe walk!”

With a bag in each hand, he pushed open the door with his back and was welcomed with a cool breeze.

Kageyama had known Mr. Ukai ever since he started middle school. His first time coming here was when he had a fight with Oikawa and Iwaizumi. (he can’t remember what they fought over about, but he was pretty sure it was over something stupid.) He remembered coming in as a crying mess and bought three big bars of Twix, two bags of gummy bears, and a carton of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.

“Bad day?” was all the blonde-haired man behind the counter said to him.

“Indeed,” Kageyama sniffled, rubbing at his wet eyes.

“I’ll tell you what, boy," The man said, "You just pay for the ice cream and the rest is on me. Deal?”

“Kageyama brightened up, a big smile now filling his face. “How magnanimous of you, sir!”

The man chuckled, then slightly cocked his head to the side. “What a vocabulary you got there, kiddo. The name’s Ukai Keishin. You can call me Mr. Ukkai.”

Kageyama stretched out his hand towards him. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Ukai. My name’s Kageyama Tobio.”

Mr. Ukai shook it, arching a brow. “And quite a little gentleman you are. A well-raised fella."

Kageyama gave him a shy smile.

“Well, go on home now. You don’t wanna worry your Mother.”

“I’ll be sure to come here again!”

“When you do, I better see that pretty smile of yours coming in and out of this store, got that?”

“Yes, sir!”

After that, he decided to go and make up with Oikawa and Iwaizumi. It didn't take long for Oikawa to cry and forgive him right there and then. Iwaizumi forgave him too, saying it in a way like it was no big deal in the first place.

“Oh, drop the tough act, Iwa-chan, Oikawa sniffed. “You were practically bawling your eyes out a few minutes ago.”

“I was not, stupid,” Iwaizumi argued. He turned away to hide his puffy eyes.

The day ended with them eating chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream to marvel movies, melting gummy bears and reshaping them into letters to spell out Oikawa’s name, and pretending to be werewolves, using the Twix bars as fangs.

Mr. Ukai also decided to stamp him with the nickname, “little gentleman” since. He'll sometimes call him "lil' gent" for short. (Kageyama didn’t really mind it much, but he did preferred it if he called him by his name.)

“Damn it, I did it again, pronouncing the stupid words wrong! This isn’t the dumb Garden.”

Kageyama jumped, then began whipping his head around like a wild man, trying to figure out where the words came from.

“ _Ningen Sekai! Anzen Chitai._ ”

Alright, If this was some prank Kageyama was not amused at all and it made him even more pissed to assume that it may be Oikawa and Iwaizumi fucking around with him.

“Who’s there?!” he barked.

No answer.

_clink._

“Is everything alright out here? Saw you looking around like you just spotted a ghost somewhere.”

He turned to see Mr. Ukai poking out his head from behind the door.

Kageyama just stared at him dumbfounded, until he finally got back into his senses and cleared his throat. “Uh, yeah! yeah, everything’s all right. Just thought I heard something.”

“Tch, bet it was just a cat,” Mr. Ukai grumbled, “Those rascals have been quite the troublesome these past few days.”

 _If cats can talk then sure_ , he thought.

“Ah, that must be it. Then I’ll be going now. Thanks for letting me know.”

“No worries, kid. Don’t let ‘em scare you no more now okay?”

“Uh, alright.”

“See ya.”

Mr. Ukai closed the door and went back behind the counter, pulling out a cigarette and lighter from the pocket of his apron.

Kageyama slowly faced forward again, standing there for a few seconds until finally forcing his feet to start moving.

What the hell? Was it just my imagination? And those last four words…

Something about them seemed so familiar to him.

But not as much as the voice that spoke them.

Although he wasn’t completely convinced with the idea, he decided to just go with it being from his imagination and shake it off from his mind.

 

 

“I’m home!”

Kageyama kicked off his shoes and pushed them to the side.

“Finally! I’m starving.”

He flicked his eyes towards the stairs, watching as his sister came down from them excitedly.

She snatched the bags away from him and hurriedly made her way towards the kitchen.

“Wow, okay Hitoka, I see how it is,” Kageyama huffed with false hurt, crossing his arms against his chest.

He stood there, waiting, until he finally heard her sigh, then lazily walked her way towards him to give him a hug.

“You happy now?” she said, letting him go and raising her eyebrows.

Kageyama threw her a cheeky grin. “Yup.”

“Alright then, let’s go eat!” she declared and ran off once again.

Kageyama chuckled and followed after her.

Hitoka already had her equal amount of pork buns out in front of her and was getting her Funyuns and Coca-Cola out from the bag when Kageyama sat down at the table.

They comfortably sat there eating with a couple of minutes ticking by with silence, until Kageyama decided to inquire Hitoka about those last four words he heard earlier in front of the Sakanoshita store. Why did they sound so familiar to him? He was positive that they were japanese, yes, but for some odd reason he didn’t know what they meant. He thought that maybe she would know. 

“Hey, Hitoka?” he called and ate the last piece of pork bun he had left in his hand.  
“Yeah?” she answered, putting a handful of Funyuns into her mouth.

“Do you know what the words, _Ningen Sekai_ and _Anzen Chitai_ mean?”

Suddenly, Funyun bits were flying everywhere and Hitoka began to cough wildly, pounding her fist against her chest.

“Hey!!” Kageyama shouted, looking down at his shirt with complete disgust. “You got that all over me, stupid! Why the hell did you have to go and do that for anyway?”

“How do you know those words?!” She implored, completely ignoring his question.

_Why on earth does she look like I just said that I outright murdered somebody?_

Kageyama was hesitant to it, but he decided to lie. “I heard them in english class. The teacher said them somewhere along the lesson she was lecturing. They just caught my attention since I can't seem to know what they mean, that’s all. Such a dramatic reaction wasn’t needed, jeez.”

“Shut up, you’re lying you bastard.” She snapped, her face beginning to show irritation.

Kageyama knew she was going to look right through him, but he still did it anyway. He wasn’t sure why, but he really didn’t want to tell her the truth.

“Wha—I’m serious!”

“I’m going to ask you once again—”

“Hitoka, what the _fuck_ , stop overreacting—”

“Where did you—”

“Hitoka, are you even listening to me—”

“—Hear that from?!”

“Jesus christ—”

“KAGEYAMA!!”

_Silence._

Kageyama sat there frozen, shocked, because of two things: Hitoka yelling so loudly to him for the very first time in his life.  
And because the table was broken into three, neat pieces from Hitoka slamming her fist onto it.

“I’m home!”

Kageyama turned to see his Mother come in with a bright smile on her face. It disappeared in a flash as she stopped midway and initiated on comprehending the situation in front of her.

Hitoka was the first to speak, breaking the seconds of silence that passed by in that moment.

“M-mom, this is my fault. I-I didn’t mean to, I just got angry and I—”

“This is your doing?” She interrupted, saying the words quietly, keeping her gaze on the broken table.

“Y-yes,” Hitoka answered, clasping her hands together behind her back and looking down at her feet.

Kageyama watched as his Mother closed her eyes. She took a deep breath in, then let it out slowly. She opened her eyes again, seeming more relaxed and…..relieved?

“Hitoka, go to your room. I’ll be there to talk to you in a minute.”

Hitoka didn’t say a word and scattered up the stairs.

“Kageyama?” She called gently.

His heart plummeted down to his stomach.

“Um, yeah..?”

“Can you clean this up? And take the pieces of table outside. Put them next to the trash cans.”

“A-alright.”

He stood up and pushed off all the chairs to the sides, then got down on his knees and began to clean up the mess.

He slid open the door to the backyard, throwing the trash bag with his and Hitoka’s dinner in it away and then one by one took the pieces of the table out. As he set down the last of it, he looked up at the window in Hitoka’s room, wondering about what she and Mother were talking about and if Hitoka would tell her about what he brought up.

He sighed, paying his attention to the bees he noticed buzzing about in the red roses.

Hitoka and Mother are obsessed with flowers, so they have a garden in their backyard. I mean, he likes them too, but not as much as they do.

For some odd reason, looking at them kind of makes him sad.

The garden is in a U-shape with the ends pointing towards the house and each have a stone bench in front of it. In the middle of it all, is a cherry blossom tree.

Yeah. A cherry blossom tree. People have always gawked at it when they passed by, since he guessed it was a bit unusual for one to be in someone’s backyard, but there you have it. Mother really wanted one and was able to get her hands on a seed from a friend of hers that knew somebody. At first, Kageyama doubted that it’ll be able to grow in such a place but he was proven wrong.

The thing was huge now, covered in breath-taking white blossoms, ones that strangely bloomed longer than they normally should. Alternative environment he guessed? He didn’t think much of it, honestly.

In total, they had fourteen different types of flowers in their garden. (Fifteen, if you counted the blossoms.) On the left side there were Sunflowers, Black Dahlias, Blue Hydrangeas, Yellow Snapdragons, Lavenders, and White and Red Roses. On the right, Glory of the Snows, Orange Ranunculuses, Green Chrysanthemums, Jacques Cartier Roses, Forget-me-nots, and Dandelions. Sounds a bit messy, but they all look magnificent together. The Blue Hydrangeas were Kageyama’s favourite. Hitoka once pointed how they really matched the color of his eyes and thought it was adorable.

He can still remember when Mother first brought it up. It was a warm Saturday morning, the three of them sitting at the table eating omelettes for breakfast.

“So, Kageyama, what do you think about flowers?”

Kageyama stopped eating and looked up at his Mother’s face, which was staring back at him with curious eyes.

He laid his gaze upon the small piece of omelette he still had on his plate, poking it softly with his fork. “Well, I don’t have any reason to loathe them. They’re beautiful organisms and smell lovely,” He paused with the poking. “....My Biological Mother also admired them a lot....I think? Not quite sure why, but I have a feeling she did.”

He turned in time to see a loving smile sprout across his Mother’s face.

“I bet she did—I do too, actually. So how about it Kageyama? Wanna get a garden in our backyard? This girl right here,” She reached out to Hitoka and ruffled her short, blonde hair, who frowned in annoyance, “Already gave approval. Now all we need is yours."

“If Hitoka and Mother would certainly be delighted for such a thing then of course!”  
Mother let out a lighthearted laugh. “Seven years old and you already have such a strong vocabulary, young man. Makes me feel like a dumb ol’ hag.”

“Ah, I deeply apologize for that,” Kageyama said, looking down at his lap. “The children at school point out the way I talk too. I can’t help it though. I guess it is quite strange for a boy of my age to be able to talk in such a manner. I notice how adults always seem appalled from it and the kids can never understand half of what I’m saying.”

Kageyama suddenly felt a hand squeeze his cheek.

“Hey,” Mother said, making him face her. “I was just kidding, I didn’t mean it. Don’t ever let the thought of you being inferior from everyone else slip into that little pretty head of yours. You’re just a bit smarter than most kids that’s all. That's a good thing.”

“Really?"

She let go of his cheek and cupped it. She leaned in, planting a kiss on his nose and pulled back to give him a soft, reassuring smile.

“Really.”

 

 

Kageyama is restless.

After all that’s happened a few hours earlier, it really isn’t a surprise as to why he couldn’t make himself go to sleep. He had so many questions drowning his mind: how in the hell is Hitoka that strong? (I mean, he always knew from all the punches she'll give him, but this is different.) Why did she react like that when he mentioned those four words? For fuck’s sake, why can’t he leave those stupid words be? Why do they have to bother him so much?

His Mother came in a few minutes after he entered his room to say goodnight, giving him a tighter hug than usual and a peck on the cheek. Nothing more. But that didn’t stop him from noticing worry and suspicion harboring in her eyes. I guess Hitoka did tell her everything.

Also, when he thinks about the voice those words came out from, why does his heart ache a little?

_I must be going mad._

He tried with everything he had to push all of the thoughts back as far as his mind would let him, but they were stubborn, and just kept making their way up again.

After a few more minutes of turning and adjusting himself every fucking 5 seconds, he just _couldn’t_ anymore.

Finally giving up, he sat up on his bed. He rubbed his eyes for a bit, then looked towards his clock.

_11:47pm._

Kageyama sighed. He plucked up one of the many water bottles he had on his nightstand and drank it.

Waking up tomorrow is not going to be easy.

He shifted his gaze towards his window, the moon pouring its soft white light onto his messy floor.

Then suddenly it was orange.

Orange light on his messy floor.

Kageyama didn’t do anything at first, just blinked a couple of times.

_Blink, blink._

_Blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink._

_….._

_blink._

THERE’S STILL ORANGE LIGHT ON HIS GODDAMN MESSY FLOOR.

 _What the FUCK is going on?!_ He screamed inside his head, jumping out of his bed like his life depended on it and made his way to the window.

But just as he opened it, the orange light disappeared.

Kageyama stared up at the moon. It was gray.

He sighed.

_Of course it’s gray, you moron, what color did you expect it to be?_

Was that really just his mind playing tricks on him?

Honestly, with everything that’s happened, he really couldn’t convince himself anymore.

He dropped his head backwards and let out a long groan. “I really _am_ going mad.”

_sob, sob._

Kageyama froze. He picked his head up again and looked down at the garden.

Why is the garden crying.

“Alright, I had _enough_ ,” Kageyama blurted out down to the garden, loudly enough to be heard from that distance, “If that’s you, Tooru and Hajime, you guys are _sooo_ getting it!”

_Silence._

Then that’s when he saw it.

The sunflower section swaying.

_Found you._

Kageyama didn’t dare waste a second, so without caring, he zoomed downstairs to the backyard with just his boxers on. He was too angry to give a shit about the noise he was making either.

He slid open the door as fast as he was able to, ran his way to the sunflowers, and basically threw himself onto them. He felt himself make contact with something hard.

A body.

Then he felt fabric. He grabbed it in a fistful, picked the person up with ease (they were surprisingly light) and slammed them against the wall.

“Ow!! What the—!”

But the voice stopped midway.

A voice.

A boy’s voice.

And it was _that_ voice. The one he heard in front of the store. The one that made his heart throb every time he thought about it.

Kageyama quickly moved the sunflowers that was blocking the boy’s face away and everything around him seemed to just go completely dark and utterly quiet the moment he laid his eyes on him.

He was _beautiful_.

Round caramel-colored eyes that seemed to glow were looking straight into Kageyama’s blue ones, fair skin and flushed lips that looked soft to touch, and fluffy, messy, red hair. Kageyama quickly glanced up and down his body. He was wearing all white: white t-shirt, white shorts, white shoes. He was quite short for someone that looked to be around his age. He also noticed a small glass bottle in his hand filled with clear liquid.

The boy spoke once again, this time his voice cracking a bit and catching Kageyama off guard.

“Kage...yama?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> Feedback is appreciated. :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I'm aware that it's 12am from where I am and I'm posting this chapter now, but that's the kind of uploads you're gonna get from a person who does shit late asf.)  
> Year 2018, where I hope I can pursue this dream of mine to become a writer.  
> Not an official one, honestly, more as a hobby, I guess you could say. I'm not really sure if I would like to pick being an author as my career. I really do enjoy writing stories, but more like writing stories for my favorite otps from shows and such.  
> AO3 is somewhere I can do that. Somewhere I can post the stories I enjoyed writing of my favourite pairs and can share it with others and hope they enjoy it as well.  
> And yes! I say otp and pair as plural! Kagehina isn't the only thing I'll be writing for. (Although it'll be the majority.)  
> Alrighty, I'll shut up and let you go on reading the chapter now. Enjoy! :)

“Kage...yama?”

Kageyama just gazed at him puzzledly, mouth agaped. While he was at it, he noticed how those soft, big eyes of his were puffy and red.

Was he the one that was crying just a few minutes ago? And how does he know his name?

“Were you crying..?” He asked, taking turns looking at his pink nose, flushed cheeks and ears.

“N-no!” the boy sputtered and avoided eye contact.

Kageyama scoffed, settling him down on the ground but not letting go of his shirt. He didn’t want this tangerine to go running away from him just yet.

“Whatever you say. How do you even know my name anyway? Pretty sure I wouldn’t forget an appearance like yours,” Kageyama said while looking at his hair.

The boy faced him, a sad small smile crossing his face.

“Heh...of course you still wouldn’t remember.” 

He said it so quietly that Kageyama almost didn’t catch it.

“What do you mea—”

“F-forget what I said! I must go now.”

Kageyama was about to say something else until he suddenly felt a sharp pain spread across the back of his head. He let go of the boy and stumbled backwards. He grabbed his head, groaning in agony and gritting his teeth.

“What did you just….”

His voice drifted away, the words following along. Before he knew it, he was on the ground. Blurry Sunflowers covered his vision and the sound of his throbbing head blocked his hearing. But before his conscious fled, he was able to hear one last thing from the (glowing? Why does it look like he’s glowing?) boy that made his heart twist in perplexing pain.

“Forgive me, my love.”

 

 

Kageyama woke up to something that sounded like a dying hippo and being unable to move. He later discovered it was just Oikawa and Iwaizumi with their asses on top of him, screaming.

“What the fuck is wrong with you guys?!” He snapped, squirming under them.

In sync and in robotic voices they replied, “It is Friday, March twenty-sixth, six twenty-nine _a.m._ and we are going to be late for school if you do not get up.”

“Jesus Christ, It’s way too early for this,” Kageyama said, dropping his head back onto his pillow.

They finally got off of him and began dancing across his room. Kageyama just stared at them, watching as Iwaizumi pulled Oikawa towards him, wrapping his arms around his torso and Oikawa wrapping his own around Iwaizumi’s neck. They stuck themselves into that position, swaying together with their eyes closed and foreheads pressed against one another.

Others might find it annoying when couples did lovey-dovey shit in front of them, but Kageyama had always felt warm to see the two be this way in front of him, showing love for what it is.

I guess you could also say they’re rare occasions.

Kageyama was suddenly hit by the image of a head covered with red hair from last night, along with everything that had happened. How could he almost forget?

Well, he _did_ get slammed from the back of his head, he supposed….

Thinking about it now started to make him aware of the soreness on the spot.

“The hell you still in bed for? Get your ass up!”

Iwaizumi yanked the sheets away from his body and flung his legs off the bed, forcing Kageyama to sit up. Oikawa rummaged through his closet and threw his uniform onto his lap.

“Alright, alright, I’m up!” Kageyama said, rubbing at his eyes.

“We’ll wait for you downstairs!” Oikawa declared, opening the door and made his way down to the kitchen, Iwaizumi following behind. “And for the millionth time you shouldn’t keep your window unlocked, let alone open.”

Kageyama was fathomed for a moment but began to perceive his words. “Oh, uh, right. okay.”

He listened to their fading footsteps for a few seconds, then proceeded to put on his uniform, brush his teeth, drink a bottle of water, and grab his backpack. He swung the bag onto his shoulder and instead of heading on down, he stayed put on where he stood, allowing his mind to wander into the events from yesterday night. It just couldn’t possibly been a dream and just like before, he was getting sick of shoving things into the direction of being it all in his head. Besides, the aching coming from the back of head was proof it wasn’t. Oikawa also did mention that his window was open, which is what he did when the world turned orange for a minute. And since he lost conscious, he couldn’t have taken himself back to his room, so that means that the tangerine had carried him up here (Surprisingly).

Just who the hell was he and how did he know him?

Kageyama was brought back down to earth as he heard yodeling coming from downstairs (Which kind of sounded more like retarded dolphins in his opinion), telling him that the morons down there were getting impatient and they were all going to be late for their first class. He rolled his eyes and went on his way.

 

 

“Come on now, let’s move it people!”

“Give me a minute, damn it. It’s like, ten thousand degrees out and I’m fucking dying here.”

“I thought you did a morning run everyday, Tanaka,” Kageyama called from where he was sitting on the grass under the shade of a tree.

“Says the one who only had to run four laps! Besides, I've been busy lately so I've been too tired to get up super early.”

“So you’re saying that it isn’t fair for me not to run all the requiring laps even though I might literally die? And mind you that it’s your fault that it’s like this. It was just seven, but your idea to do a dumb prank on the P.E. teacher made it ten. And you? _Busy_? Some humor you have there.”

“Shut up,” Tanaka snapped.

“The heck you standing around for, baldie boy?! Get going!” Coach Yasufumi screamed.

Tanaka made a weird noise in reply that only Kageyama could comprehend that it meant distress.

“You can do it. You only got two more to go,” Kageyama reassured.

“Sounds like two-fucking-hundred to me,” Tanaka grumbled, straightening himself up.

Kageyama shook his head, cracking a smile. Tanaka stood there for a few more minutes until he got yelled at again by Coach Yasufumi.

“You can do it, _baldie boy_!” Kageyama yelled, trying to suppress an upcoming laugh.

“Don't you fucking start, Tobio!” Tanaka warned.

After all the boys have finally finished up whatever remaining laps they had, Mr. Yasufumi was kind enough to give them a five minute break. Tanaka didn’t waste a second and dropped himself next to Kageyama, getting as much rest as he possibly can within the given time.

“You’re not gonna drink any water?” Kageyama asked, looking down at his limp body.

Tanaka didn’t say anything but spread out his arm. Kageyama handed him a bottle. Tanaka slightly sat up to drink it, then tossed the emptied bottle back at Kageyama and went to resting once more.

“Listen up, you brats!”

Mr. Yasufumi placed himself in front of the boys, who have now downed their chattering and laid their eyes on him.

“I’ll like you to meet a new student who has just entered this school today.”

And with that, he moved to the side to reveal a very short boy.

With caramel-colored eyes.

And fluffy, red hair.

“Good evening, everyone!” He beamed, with a big smile across his face that made Kageyama’s heart skip a beat. “My name’s Hinata Shouyou. I’m pleased to meet you all.”

Mr. Yasufumi put his hand on his shoulder which made Hinata jump a little. “Alright! Since everyone has done their ten laps, you my friend are also joining in on the fun.”

Hinata simply replied with an okay and went ahead.

“Jeez, not a single drop of mercy even if you’re a newbie,” someone mumbled out.

Kageyama would've mentally agreed if he wasn't so appalled.

He’s here. The boy is here.

Kageyama was super relieved that he didn’t notice him. He wasn't really sure how he should've reacted if he did.

He then got startled when he noticed Tanaka from the corner of his eye, staring emotionlessly at the direction where the redhead disappeared out of sight.

Kageyama poked his cheek. “Weren’t you dead just a few minutes ago?”

Tanaka said nothing.

“Oh shit, maybe you are.”

Tanaka finally snapped out of it and blinked.

“Oh, uh, sorry about that. I kind of just dozed off for a bit.”

“I thought you turned zombie on me for a minute and I was about to be the first unlucky person to get eaten by you.”

Tanaka smacked him across the chest and Kageyama just laughed, pulling him into a side hug.

Kageyama was good at reading Tanaka, even when he wasn't showing any kind of emotion on his face. So when Tanaka pressed deeper into the hug and his quiet sigh was shaky, he knew something was wrong. He was feeling anxious.

“What is it, Tanaka?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Are you seriously throwing that answer at me?”

Tanaka sighed, peeling himself off Kageyama. “I’m just tired that’s all. Believe me.”

“Should I?”

Tanaka set his gaze on him. “Yes, you should.”

They stared at each other, Kageyama searching into those stormy eyes of his, but they were expressionless. He sees him squeezing and un-squeezing his knee.

Tanaka was lying, but Kageyama decided to let this one go.

“Fine, but guess who isn’t getting any chocolate from me today.”

Tanaka gasped. “You wouldn’t do such a sin.”

“Never said I was a child of God.”

Kageyama felt droplets of water get flicked on his face.

Tanaka clasped his hands together and closed his eyes. “May this holy water help you cleanse out that demon nursing inside your soul.”

“I’m quite well, thank you very much.”

Tanaka pressed his forefinger onto Kageyama’s chest, tracing a cross with it.

Kageyama slapped it away, which set Tanaka off into a fit of giggles.

Mr. Yasufumi began yelling that the break was over and to get themselves settle into a line, so the two made their way over. That’s when Kageyama got hit by a thousands butterflies swooping into his stomach once his eyes settled back onto the appearance of the red-haired boy.

 _Hinata Shouyou, huh?_ Kageyama thought, watching the boy run his laps. He was jogging in a steady but quick pace and didn’t seem exhausted at all. His face mirrored Tanaka’s eyes a few minutes ago—expressionless.

That is, until he did a quick glance towards where the boys were getting themselves into a line, then did a double take on where Kageyama was standing. His eyes widened along with his jaw dropping. He suddenly went face first towards the ground, his legs bending and giving his back a high five.

Kageyama wasn’t sure how his body moved itself to Hinata’s side and had him cradling in his arms, but he was too concerned on the thick droplets of blood coming out from Hinata’s nose to question it for too long.

“Hey, are you awake? Can you hear me?” Kageyama asked. He took off his shirt and pressed the fabric against the bloody nose.

The boy’s eyes fluttered open moments after and flicked around its surroundings. Hinata took his time to adapt himself into the current situation, then finally settled his eyes on the black-haired boy in front of him and froze.

Kageyama reflected off the same reaction. Both boys locked their eyes onto one another. Hinata’s cheeks painted a soft pink onto themselves.

Mr. Yasufumi appeared on Hinata’s other side. “You okay, kid? No major injuries?”

Hinata tore his vision off of Kageyama and onto the coach. “I—no, no major injuries….just a bloody nose.”

“Good, good. Let’s get you to the infirmary. Ya mind carrying him, Kageyama?”

Before Kageyama could answer him, Tanaka was suddenly there.

“I can take him,” He said, taking Hinata away from his arms, which strangely annoyed him. “You get yourself cleaned up and get a new shirt. You can use one of mine if you don’t have any extras.”

Kageyama felt like arguing, but it also felt stupid to do so. Why would he? Just because he felt like he had some kind of connection with this tangerine, so he should be the one to carry him?

Kageyama muttered out an okay and went off to the locker room. He turned in time to see them walk away, with the bleeding redhead staring directly at his way.

He looked somewhat relieved.

And disappointed.

 

 

“I wonder if he's alright.”

Oikawa paused on chewing the piece of milk bread in his mouth to look at Kageyama puzzledly.

“Ith who alwigh’?”

“This guy named Hinata shouyou. He’s a new student and in my P.E. class. He fell over when he was doing his laps and got himself a bloody nose.”

Oikawa looked like he got stabbed in the chest. He started chewing again, slowly this time, and swallowed. “oh...I guess so. I mean, getting a bloody nose isn't really anything serious...I'm sure he's fine.”

“Who’ll be fine?”

Iwaizumi plopped down next to Oikawa with his bento box in hand.

“No one,” Oikawa answered quickly.

Iwaizumi looked at him puzzledly. He turned to Kageyama.

“Tobio?”

“A new transferred student named Hinata Shouyou,” Kageyama explained, glancing over at Oikawa who winced at the mention of the name. “He started his first day with tripping over and getting a bloody nose in P.E.”

“Wait, what??” Iwaizumi blurted, stunned.

“Yeah, his nose basically became like bloody waterfalls—”

“You said his name was Hinata Shouyou?”

Kageyama blinked and furrowed his eyebrows. “Uh...yeah?”

Iwaizumi whipped his head towards Oikawa, who was sticking two dumplings in his mouth and focusing intensely on the table.

“What? You guys know him or something?” Kageyama inquired, raising a brow.

“No, we don’t,” Iwaizumi said, his voice monotone. “Why do _you_ ask of him? Do you know him by chance?”

“What’s with all the weird questions? Is it wrong for me to worry for someone?” Kageyama scoffed. He grabbed a water bottle and drank it down too fast that he almost choked on it.

“Well, I'm sure there's nothing to worry about so moving on,” Oikawa said a little too quickly, waving his hand dismissively.

Kageyama suddenly noticed Hinata over Oikawa’s shoulder, making his way towards Tanaka at his desk. There were two other boys at his sides: someone really tall with sandy hair and squared glasses and another with dark, brown hair and freckles splattered across his face.

Hinata said something and bowed. Tanaka responded with hands waving frantically and shooting glances towards where Kageyama was sitting.

“Holy shit,” Kageyama heard Oikawa murmured when he saw where his gaze was at. Iwaizumi also spun around, then said, “What in the devil’s dick?”

“The hell is wrong with you guys?” Kageyama asked, staring at both of their pale faces.

“Nothing,” They both synchronized.

“Don’t give me that bullshit,” Kageyama snapped. “You obviously know who the fuck those people are, so spill it. _Now_.”

But before the two could get a word out, the bell rang for next class.

“Hey!” Kageyama shouted, watching as Oikawa and Iwaizumi ran off seconds after.

 _How dare they?!?_ He thought, putting his things away madly. He was so going to give those idiots a good beating after school.

As he was about to go catch up to them, he caught the redhead eyeing him in shock.

Kageyama quickly looked away and began chewing on his bottom lip, debating on whether he should go up to the tangerine and ask about his nose or not (Obviously an excuse to talk to him). Then he started wondering if that would be too awkward for the both of them considering what happened last night.

….He should probably ask him about _that_.

“Hey you,” Kageyama said, tapping on Hinata's shoulder. “We need to talk.”

Hinata turned and gave him a dumbfounded look, which was making Kageyama regret his decision of approaching him in the first place.

Hinata opened his mouth to say something, but all that came out was a high-pitched sound. He clamped it shut.

Kageyama caught four-eyes staring at him with surprisement. The brunette looked like he just saw a ghost.

Kageyama began to feel uncomfortable, shifting his weight to one foot to another.

“What? Can you not speak?” Kageyama said, starting to get impatient.

“I—of course I can!” Hinata replied defensively.

“Then if someone’s talking to you, you talk back, dumbass.”

Instead of getting offended from the insult, Hinata seemed to soften from it, looking at him in a way that made Kageyama want to ruffle his hair then hug him tightly.

“Just meet me after school, okay?” Kageyama mumbled out and went back to his desk, not waiting for an answer from him.

Kageyama sat there in English, not hearing a word coming out from the teacher’s mouth. 

He felt like someone was twisting his stomach and fueling his heart to beat faster and faster. Why in the hell did he offer to meet after school? Not to mention he has to find those two stupid bastards, too.

Kageyama sunk further down his seat and closed his eyes, letting out a long sigh.

This is going to be a  _long_ day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is much appreciated. :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter three <3 Sorry for any mistakes! hope you all enjoy :)

Kageyama just realized that he didn’t tell Hinata where he should exactly meet him after school.

He felt embarrassed. And fucking stupid.

He sat down on a bench nearby and let his mind travel through the thoughts about Oikawa and Iwaizumi and the cryptic behavior they were displaying earlier in class.

He sighed, thinking about how everyone's been acting so strange these days. It's driving him insane, making him feel like he’s being left out on a secret that everyone seems to know about but him.

“Ka-Kageyama-kun?”

The soft voice yanked Kageyama from his thoughts and pulled his eyes to creamy hazel ones.

He gave a quick nod as a greeting because apparently his voice was mute at the moment.

Hinata stood there, nervous and awkward, fiddling with his fingers. He was looking everywhere but at Kageyama’s direction.

He rolled his eyes, snapping his fingers to get his attention. Hinata immediately turned at the sound. Kageyama patted at the empty space beside him, and Hinata looked like he just told him to go jump off a building.

“The hell’s that expression for? Stop looking like a dumbass and come sit down already,” Kageyama declared.

Hinata scrunched up his face, now annoyed.

“You don't have to be so discourteous about it,” He mumbled, plopping himself down onto the bench.

“Discourteous?” Kageyama repeated, an eyebrow raised.

“What?” Hinata said, raising his own eyebrow, “You don't know what that means?”

“Of course I know what it means,” Kageyama answered, rolling his eyes for the second time. “It's just that it's....a big word.”

Hinata tilted his head to the side. “And? Is it uncanny?”

“No, not at all. Just that people our age don't usually talk...intelligently.”

“So? What’s the issue if there's some people like us that  _ do _ talk that way?”

Kageyama finally looked back at him, knitting his brows together.

“Us?”

Hinata blinked at him for a few seconds until turning his gaze up to the sky and shrugging. “I mean, you're inquiring me on the way I talk and that isn't the first thing that people who aren't familiar with it bring up, so it looks to me like  _ you _ had to also figure out how to be what others consider a ‘normal’ adolescent.”

Kageyama stared at him, pretty sure looking like a moron, but he just couldn't help it.

Almost all his life he dealt with people pointing out the way he talked until he was thirteen, when he finally adjusted onto the level of communication that was appropriate and understandable for his age.

Although that doesn't mean he abandoned it completely. He still speaks the way he does with the people who’s always known him that way: his family and two best friends. 

Even Tanaka now and then, when he finally got comfortable with him. He sometimes does it on accident, but Tanaka doesn't mention it or even complain about it like most people.

He actually  _ understands _ what Kageyama’s saying. He realized that he might goof around a lot, but he isn't stupid.

He's never met anyone else that understood and went through the same struggle he did.

“What acumen you have,” Kageyama jested, but couldn't help feeling good to speak like himself.

Hinata giggled and it almost distracted Kageyama enough to forget about why they were there in the first place.

“So anyway,” He began, “About last night.”

The giggles stopped, making Kageyama feel a little regret for ruining the moment.

“Last night,” Hinata echoed, saying the words slowly.

“Care to explain?” Kageyama slumped further down onto the bench, placing a foot on his knee.

Silence.

“You want me to accuse you of being a stalker then?”

Hinata whipped around and looked at him in disbelief.

“I am  _ not _ stalker!”

“If that doesn't explain why you were in my backyard then what else could it—”

“Love,” Hinata quickly said, cutting him off.

Kageyama’s eyes widened and flames bursted up in his cheeks.

Hinata noticed this and immediately began violently shaking his head.

“No! No, no, t-that's not what I meant—I,um—I meant, uh—” Hinata stuttered, his own cheeks turning a deep crimson.

“Alright,” Kageyama said, standing up. “We're done here.”

It's not like someone’s never told him they loved him before, but that coming from this guy seemed to make him feel super weird. And hot. He needed to go.

“Wait, no!” Hinata yelled, a hand lunging forward to grasp onto Kageyama’s arm.

He froze, looking down at the small hand.

“I-I meant like love for, uh, for flowers!”

“Flowers?” Kageyama questioned, frowning.

“Yeah! You, um, had really nice ones in your garden. Especially those…blue Hydrangeas.”

Kageyama sat back down, not saying anything.

Hinata kept talking. “And that Cherry Blossom tree? Marvelous. Strange, but beautiful nonetheless.”

“So basically you were in my backyard, at midnight, because of my garden and its pretty little flowers,” Kageyama concluded.

Hinata rolled his eyes. “Putting it that way sounds like something nobody would ever believe.”

“They shouldn't, really.”

“They should too! It's the truth.”

“Oh really?”

“ _ Yes really _ ,” Hinata argued, poking him once in the chest.

Kageyama tried smacking the finger, but Hinata was quicker than him, swifting it away in time.

“Still though,” He continued, “Doesn't make it right for you to be trespassing into somebody’s backyard.”

Then another memory dawned at him and it's his turn to poke his finger into Hinata’s chest.

“ _ And to fucking smash them on the back of the head when they confront you about it. _ ”

Hinata winced at that, turning away and showing off heated ears.

“Sorry about that,” He confessed, running a hand smoothly through his thick hair and clenching the locks on the back. “I sort of…panicked.”

“That was your first instinct? To hit me with something that felt like a steel brick?”

Hinata shot him a fractious look. “You're being dramatic, Kageyama-kun.”

Kageyama scrunched up his nose. “You don't have to call me that. Just Kageyama is fine.”

Hinata looked taken aback. “Oh, um, okay.”

Another thought came to Kageyama.

“You were also crying…what for? Were the flowers too ravishing?”

He only meant it as a joke, but Hinata didn't seem to find it very funny when he made full eye contact with Kageyama with brown eyes turning a shade darker and losing the humor in them.

They went from disconsolation to wrath, then disconsolation again, back and forth.

Hinata opened his mouth to say something, but changed his mind and closed it up once again, shutting his eyes instead and tightly squeezing them together.

“I should get going,” He quavered, not meeting Kageyama’s gaze.

The faltering of his voice took Kageyama by surprise, making his heart twist up into multiple knots.

“Wait—”

“I live quite far, so it's best for me to start heading home,” Hinata cut him off. “You should too. Your mom might begin to fret.”

“Dumbass, you can't just—what was that all about—”

Hinata finally faced Kageyama, grasping onto the strap of his bag.

“We’ll talk more on Monday. Is, um, that okay with you?”

Kageyama blinked and dumbly said, “Uh, sure.”

Hesitation crossed Hinata’s features before saying, “And you know you could also just call me by my….” Hinata shook his head. “Nevermind, forget it. See you.”

Hinata ran ahead and Kageyama didn't move until he was completely gone from his view.

He wanted to stop him, call out to him, but he was too busy playing the words that came out of the redhead’s mouth in his mind.

Call him what exactly? His name? I guess he did strangely pick up the habit of calling him a dumbass most of the time.

  
  
  
  
  


“Hiya, kid,” Mr. Ukai greeted Kageyama as he walked into the store.

Mr. Ukai knitted his brows together. “Why do you look more dead than usual?”

“'Than usual?’” Kageyama repeated.

Mr. Ukai shrugged. “School sure can be tough.”

He chuckled, grabbing a bag of Hershey kisses. “It sure can.”

“Wanna talk about it?”

Kageyama carefully placed the chocolate on the counter, keeping his eyes on them.

“I'm okay, really. Just exhausted now. I appreciate your concern though.”

Mr. Ukai held out the bag with three cherry lollipops. “No worries, LG. The lollipops are my treat.”

Kageyama gave him a grin, taking the candy. “Thanks.”

As he stepped out of the store, he puts the bag of chocolate into the pocket of his jacket and two of the lollipops, leaving one out to eat.

He still hasn't forgotten about those two bastards and as badly as he wanted to just go home, order pizza, watch  _ The Walking Dead _ , then sleep, he had to talk to them now or it'll be never.

He arrived at Iwaizumi’s house by the time he reached the core of his lollipop. He ate it and threw the white stick away.

Oikawa always came over to Iwaizumi’s house after school. It pleased Kageyama that it meant that he didn't have to go through the trouble of talking to one and then the other.

He knocked on the door.

Nobody answered.

He stepped back and peered into the windows. The lights were on.

Thinking they might have not heard him, he knocked again, harder and louder this time.

Still no answer.

_ Are these idiots fucking deaf? _ He thought irritatedly.

He decided to go through their backyard.

if they were able to barge into his house anytime they desired, why couldn't he?

He hopped over the gate and walked across the grass. He was about to stand in front of the sliding glass door and bang on it like his life depended on it, until he heard:

“It's too dangerous. That midget has to go  _ now _ .”

Kageyama froze.

It was Iwaizumi.

And he didn't sound very happy.

Curiosity got the best of him, so he quickly pressed his back up against the wall, leaning his head closer to be able to listen better.

“I know, I know, but he's got his attention now so it'll be suspicious if he just disappeared without a word.”

That was Oikawa.

“Yeah, he's right.”

A girl's voice this time.

A voice that really sounded like Hitoka.

_ What the hell is she doing here?  _ He thought, his mind running wild now.

“He also just started going to school, so disappearing out of the blue after only a few days going there would be even  _ more _ suspicious,” She said.

Someone sighed.

Kageyama’s stomach churned painfully,

because he knows that sigh all too well. He’ll hear it every time he did something he wasn't supposed to be doing. He'll hear it every time bills had to be paid and work called at night, asking for someone to come back for a few more hours.

“We really can't keep this up forever,” His mother said. “He's gonna have to found out soon enough. I mean, you guys are  _ immortal.” _

Iwaizumi grunted.

Kageyama’s heart was about ready to break out through his ribcage any moment from how hard it was beating against them.

What in the world are they talking about? What did she mean by being  _ immortal— _

“And isn't it deleterious to make him drink too much Ncytinasty in a day?” Oikawa asked. “He only gets headaches now but that could alter throughout time. It could start to hurt him even more.”

First of all, what’s this thing called “Ncytinasty”?

Second of all,  _ deleterious? _ That couldn't be Oikawa talking.

“Okay, okay, I think we should discuss this in another time. I need to be home before dinner and I have homework to do.”

WHAT THE FUCK IS TANAKA DOING HERE?!?

Kageyama had enough of this. He felt like his head was about to explode from all the questions that were piling up on top of each other inside.

As Kageyama was about to break the door open, he suddenly felt something yank on his jacket. Startled, he looked down.

It was Kuro.

Kuro was Iwaizumi’s dog. A black, German Shepherd.

Kageyama forgot about him.

“Shit! Let go!” He whispered loudly.

Kuro just growled and yanked even harder. Kageyama noticed how his nostrils sniffed and brushed against the pocket of his jacket.

The pocket holding the bag of chocolate and lollipops.

“You gotta be kidding me,” He groaned, grabbing onto the dog’s head and pushing back.

Kuro finally let go. Kageyama was relieved, but only for a second before he started barking like a maniac.

“Shhhh, you big rat!” He said, trying to pet him to calm him down. “It's just me, Kageyama!”

“The hell’s wrong with your dog, dude?” Kageyama suddenly heard Tanaka ask.

Panic poured into his body and just as someone slid opened the door, he was hopping over the gate and running as fast as his long legs could go.

He didn't stop until he was a few blocks away from his house, then immediately began to regret it.

He took another bottle out of his backpack and waited for his heart rate to fasten, and his head to start aching before gulping down the water.

Nothing happened.

Kageyama frowned. He didn't feel like he was going to die—felt quite fine, actually. I mean he  _ could _ run, but only for a limited time, and sprinting from Iwaizumi’s house to his own was  _ way _ past his limit.

He put away the bottle. This could be good news, right?

He went inside and closed the door behind him, silence being the only thing greeting him back from school.

Mm.

He headed to the kitchen and ordered some pepperoni pizza from Little Caesars. He grabbed a can of Mountain Dew to drink and the bag of Hershey kisses out of the pocket of his jacket, which was all crushed from Kuro’s teeth.

He sighed and threw them away.

He went up to his room to change into something more comfortable, while he waited for his pizza to arrive. As he opens his closet, he caught sight of two small, square-shaped objects on top of his pillow. He stepped forward to take a closer look at them.

They were packets of seeds for the flowers, Cantor Black and Black-eyed Susan.

Kageyama stared down at them in confusion. What were packets of flower seeds doing on his bed?

Then he started thinking about how this may be his Mother’s doing. He remembered one time he found one on the kitchen counter. They were seeds for the flower, Chrysanthemum. Green ones. There was a sticky note on top of it saying:

 

_ To: Tobio _

_ Hey sweetie! Saw these gorgeous things at the store and I couldn't help but buy them for the garden. I wanted to plant them today once I got home, but unfortunately I'll be coming back late. :( Plant them for me, will you? Thanks! I love you. <3 _

_              ~ Mom _

 

Kageyama snatched up the two packets. They didn't come with a note this time. Maybe she didn't have time to write one, so she put them on his bed to indicate that she wanted him to plant them.

Not a surprise. It seems she's too busy doing “work” at his friend’s house.

Instead of throwing the packets out of the window like he wanted to, he placed them on his nightstand. He put on a blue hoodie and gray sweats, then dumped his school uniform into his laundry basket, thinking how he's never been so glad for it to be the weekend already.

He stashed the packets into the pocket of his hoodie and made his way downstairs.

He seized for the door when it rung, letting him know his pizza was here, then went into the living room to eat.

After gobbling down half of the box, his soda, and six episodes of  _ The Walking Dead _ watched, he finally turned off the TV and stood up from the crouch, taking a moment to stretch.

He went out to the garden to plant the flowers. He does the Cantor Blacks first, next to the Dandelions. Then he planted the Black-eyed Susans. Once finished, he headed back into the kitchen to wash his hands.

He looked at the cover images first before he threw them away, feeling a little confused on the dislike he felt, since he usually liked all the flowers his mother picked out.

But it felt more of a kind of dislike that had a reason instead from just because of the way they looked.

He tried to not think about it too much. If his mother liked them, then she liked them.

He plucked his phone out of his sweats and checked the time. It read,  _ 7:43 p.m. _

His mother and sister still weren't home.

Are they still at Iwaizumi’s place? Why would they be there for such a long time? He texted Hitoka.

 

_ To: Hitoka _

_ Subject: Finding  _ _ Nemo _ _ Family?? _

_ Where are you? Is Mom still at work? _

 

He knew damn well she wasn't.

After a few minutes passed, his phone chirped.

 

_ From: Hitoka _

_ Subject: Finding  _ _ Nemo _ _ Family?? _

_ You're so dramatic, Tobio. I'm fine. I'm at a friend's house. And yeah, Mom’s still at work. She’ll be coming home late. Same goes for me, but I'll be coming an hour earlier, so somewhere around 10:30-ish. _

 

This lying bitch.

 

_ To: Hitoka _

_ Subject: Finding  _ _ Nemo _ _ Family?? _

_ Okay….She’ll usually tell me if she was, or  _ you  _ will. I couldn't help but fret over it. _

 

_ From: Hitoka _

_ Subject: Finding  _ _ Nemo _ _ Family?? _

_ I know, sorry about that. Don't worry, we're fine. How about you? Do you have anyone over or is it just you? _

 

_ To: Hitoka _

_ Subject: Finding  _ _ Nemo _ _ Family?? _

_ It's just me. I don't plan on having anyone over. _

 

_ From: Hitoka _

_ Subject: Finding  _ _ Nemo _ _ Family?? _

_ Alright. Text me if you need anything. See ya. _

 

_ To: Hitoka _

_ Subject: Finding  _ _ Nemo _ _ Family?? _

_ Okay. See you. _

 

Kageyama bit the inside of his cheek, staring down at their conversation. It annoyed his soul towards the fact that his sister was obviously lying to him, but he couldn't call her out on it.

What the hell’s going on?

He decided to call Oikawa.

“What's up, bitch,” Was the first thing he said when he picked up.

“Hello to you too, Oikawa.”

He chuckled. “Is something wrong? Why did you call?”

“Can I not just call my friend?”

“I mean, yeah, but…”

Kageyama heard some whispering through the phone.

“I'm kinda busy. Doing stuff.”

Kageyama resisted the urge to scream at him.

“Oh really? What kind of ‘stuff’?”

“Homework. For Algebra. And um, English.”

“On a Friday?”

“My teachers are bitches.”

“Still, though, I'm surprised you're even  _ doing _ it.”

“why are you acting like I don't?”

“Because you  _ don't. _ ”

“Hey! Believe it or not, I  _ do _ .”

“Explain the bad grades then.”

“Oh, fuck off.”

Oikawa was a bad liar. That's one thing he and Kageyama both had in common. It was also why he called him instead of Iwaizumi.

“Mmm. You at Iwaizumi's?”

“Yeah, I am.”

“You've been there the whole time?”

“Uh, yeah?” Oikawa sounded confused. “What's that supposed to mean?”

“Ah well, you see, it's kind of funny because a few hours ago, I was—”

Then something outside the backyard caught his eye.

“What the fuck?” Kageyama whispered, bewildered.

“Um, Tobio? You okay? What's wrong?” Oikawa asked.

Kageyama didn't answer. Not because he didn't hear him, but because he was too shocked to. He just couldn't believe his eyes.

Those flowers he planted.

They were both fully blossomed.

He hiccuped.

“Hey, Tobio, come on, answer me. What's wro—”

Kageyama hung up and called his Mother.

“Tobio?”

“Mom?”

“Woah,” She said, sounding concerned now. “Is there something wrong? You sound terrified. What happened, sweetie?”

“T-the flowers.”

“What?”

“Those flower seeds you put on my bed. I planted them just a few minutes ago a-and now they're both fully blossomed. Fully. Blossomed.”

“Okay, okay, now hold up just a second. What flowers are you talking about, honey? I never gave you flowers to plant—”

She stopped. Then spoke again, her voice now dripping with nervousness.

“Tobio?”

“Yeah?” His own voice matching her tone.

“What….what kind of flowers are they?”

“C-cantor Black and Black-eyed Susan….what's going on, Mom? You're scaring me, you know. If you didn't give them to me then who did?”

“ _ Get out of the house right—” _

She didn't get to finish her sentence when the sliding door suddenly had the glass flying everywhere and a flash of green smacked the phone out of Kageyama’s hand, making it hit the ground with a hard crunch.

His eyes followed the green flow back towards the direction of the backyard.

There, in front of door, were two figures.

Both were male. They were shirtless and almost had on all black—black leather gauntlets on both hands and black leggings with a dark brown, leather tasset belt that had flaps on each hip and in front that strayed a few inches away from their bodies, pointed tips reaching down all the way to their calves.

In the middle of each flap was embedded with a design of a red Lily, slightly hunched over, pointy leaves and thorns covering its stem.

His view settled first on the taller guy. He had a muscular, but slender frame. He had hazel-colored eyes with cat-like pupils, and black hair with a fringe that partially covered his right eye.

The other guy next to him was an average height. He had a small build and golden eyes with similar cat-like pupils. His hair was jaw-length and blonde with black roots.

Or so Kageyama liked to think.

His hair didn't exactly look like…hair.

They almost looked like dreadlocks. Wide, smooth, flat dreadlocks.

I guess you could say they looked more like a bundle of long, skinny petals.

Kageyama suddenly spotted what looked like a dark green rope with spikes wrapped twice around the taller one's neck, with the tip ending in a half loop around his left ear. He also had multiple, black things sticking out behind his head in a rainbow-shape form.

The other guy also had some of that green rope, but his was placed on more complicated. It seemed to start from the back and appear in the front midway down from each side of his torso, criss-cross each other on top of his chest, and snake themselves up to both his ears, creating the same half loop around them.

“Hey there! Nice to meet ya. The name's Kuroo,” The taller guy greeted, giving him a toothy smile. He pointed his thumb to the other guy beside him. “This right here is Kenma.”

Kageyama growled, backing away. “Who are you guys? What the fuck do you want?”

“Oh my, no need to use such a nasty tone,” Kuroo responded, raising his hands up in the universal sign of surrender. “Just please do try not to make this more arduous than it has to be, alright?”

Kageyama made a run for the front door.

He didn't get very far, however, as his body was suddenly enfolded with a black sheet.

He slammed down to the floor, gasping as the sheet tightened around him. He tried struggling, but it was no use. In fact, it just made it worse, making it harder and harder to breathe.

“What is this, you bastard!” Kageyama yelled, as the guy made his way towards where he laid. He looked down with a smirk.

“Such a fool. Didn't you just hear what I said? Anyway, a good technique, am I right? I can enlarge one of my Cantors and either envelop my target’s whole body, trapping them inside, or just capture them in a hold that gets tighter and tighter the more they try to break free. I named it,  _ Spider’s Web _ . Fits quite well, don't you think?”

“It’s enormously vacuous to me,” Kageyama remarked.

The smile on Kuroo’s face faded. Kageyama let out a choke as the black sheet began to squeeze him even harder, making him feel as if his ribs were about to break any minute.

“Careful, or that smart mouth of yours is gonna be the death of you,” Kuroo snarled.

“You can't kill him, Tetsurou,” Kenma piped. “We need him alive.”

Kuroo tsked. “Fine. Hurry up and knock him out already.”

Kenma stepped forward to where Kageyama was lying. He raised his hand up to his hair and plucked out a strand.

Kageyama was really starting to get convinced about the guy’s hair being petals after all.

“ _ Candy Shop _ , now open,” Kenma muttered, almost too quiet for Kageyama to catch. “Treat of the day:Halothane.”

He held up the piece of hair (Should he even call it that?) And blew at it, like blowing at a Dandelion.

It began to diminish, forming into a cloud of gas.

As soon as it completely transformed, Kageyama saw the front door fly straight into the kitchen.

“Tobio, you dummy!”

It was Oikawa.

“You idiotic dickhead!”

Iwaizumi.

Fear planted itself into Kageyama’s chest. (And a bit of annoyance from the name-calling.)

“No, don't!” He screamed. “Get away from—”

He was cut short when suddenly his nostrils were burning with the smell of Hershey's chocolate. His mind stupidly dawdled into the thought of someone having his bag of kisses. (Even though he threw it away.)

Iwaizumi was the first one to reach him. Kageyama couldn't help but jump from the sight of him.

From the neck all the way down, he was covered in the color burgundy.

Iwaizumi cradled him as Kageyama’s eyes began to flutter and his breathing slowed. His body felt like it was made out of lead and he went limp in Iwaizumi's arms.

_ No, no, what's wrong with me, _ He desperately thought as his eyes were becoming more and more strenuous to keep open.

“Hey, stay with me now,” Iwaizumi whispered. He ripped away the black sheet. Kageyama exhaled, finally able to properly breath.

“Why…covered in paint?,” Kageyama slurred, gliding a finger lazily down his neck.

It didn't feel like paint. It didn't even look like it, looked more like little ovals made out of some type of smooth and soft material that were paste onto Iwaizumi's body, overlapping onto one another.

“Also….really sleepy….” Kageyama mumbled, blinking slowly.

“Now, Oikawa!” Iwaizumi called, and covered Kageyama's body with his own.

Multiple  _ swoosh  _ sounds filled the air, and Kageyama felt Iwaizumi get pushed into him like he was getting punched on the back.

He heard Kuroo curse out a ton of words that were unfamiliar to him.

“You little shit!” Kuroo shrieked. (Kageyama knew  _ that _ word.) He grabbed one of the black sticks behind his head and threw it at the direction where Kageyama guessed Oikawa was.

“Tooru…” He croaked, straining his neck to get him into his sight.

“Don't worry, he'll be fine,” Iwaizumi reassured.

“Mmm…love you guys...so much.”

Iwaizumi frowned, taken aback by the admission.

“The hell’s that for? You're not dying, Tobio.”

He couldn't help it. He was losing his conscious and will probably be completely out in a few minutes, which was making him panic. He didn't want to be knocked out while Oikawa and Iwaizumi were risking themselves for him.

He had a really bad feeling with those two. They were obviously not normal.

He felt Iwaizumi squeeze his shoulder.

“But…we love you too, man. Just relax. We'll all be—”

“Hajime! Look out!”

Iwaizumi was aggressively yanked away from Kageyama and went rolling a few feet away, engulfed in a sheet that was purple this time instead of black.

Kageyama wanted to grab one of the stools nearby and smash it across that sly-looking fucker’s head, but all he could do was just fall helplessly down to the floor and watch his best friend suffocate and yelp in pain every time a bone cracked.

Frustrated tears welled up in his eyes as blackness began to cover the edges of his vision.

There was more of that green rope suddenly going everywhere. He also spotted two blobs of yellow and brown.

Kageyama felt a warm hand press against his cheek and shake him a little. He looked up tiredly and even though she was a blur, he knew it was his mother. He tried speaking, but all that came out was a ragged breath. Her mouth moved, but Kageyama couldn't hear her. Then she leaned in, giving him a hard kiss on the forehead.

Then his vision finally welcomed in pitch-black darkness.

And then he's looking at his ceiling.

He laid there in his bed, blinking up at the white wall.

He heard a small click come from his door and it opened slightly, enough for his mother to peek inside.

“Oh hey, sweetie. Didn't mean to wake you up,” She whispered, coming over to his bed.

He shook his head slowly. “No, it's fine, it wasn't your fault. I woke up from a dream, I think. I can't remember what it was about, though...”

Her eyes seemed to hold pain and sadness in them for a second before she blinked it away and put on a soft smile. She leaned in and placed a hard kiss on his forehead.

“Don't think about it too much. Go back to sleep. Goodnight. I love you.”

“Okay….goodnight. I love you too.”

Kageyama watched the door until she was gone and saw the lights emitting from the other side flick off.

Kageyama frowned, touching his forehead.

The kiss had strangely given him an unsettling feeling of Déjà Vu.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ya girl is back with another chapter  
> Hope y'all enjoy~

Kageyama had woken up  _ sore _ .

He groaned as he moved himself onto his back, his spine popping and pain shooting up his limbs.

He suspected that running from Iwaizumi's house to his own was going to make him sore the next morning, but he didn't know it was gonna kill him  _ this _ much.

He sighed and closed his eyes.

He opened them up again and frowned.

He ran from Iwaizumi's house to his own, ate pizza and watched  _ The Walking Dead _ , then……

Then what? What happened after that?

_ Are you serious? Again? _ He thought, huffing out a vexed sigh.

Every now and then, Kageyama would receive Amnesia. The doctors didn't know why, since it wasn't due to brain injury, illness, or effects from any type of drugs. (He did drink beer for a period of time, but not enough to do any health related damage.) It also only happens from time to time, not constantly, so they theorized it may be from lack of sleep and/or stress.

It started when he was fourteen years old. His first time was at Oikawa's house for his birthday party. He remembered going up to Oikawa's room because he had Phoenix locked up in there.

Phoenix was Oikawa's cat—a Maine Coon. He was 3.3 in height, had a prominent ruff along his chest, a robust bone structure, and a triangular body shape. His coat was a rich orange, with a silky satin undercoat that was a bit lighter in color. Both uneven layered coats were streaked with the color ginger. He also had longer guard hairs (which Kageyama loved to twirl around his fingers) and orange eyes as light as apricots.

Kageyama loved Phoenix. Not only due to his striking image, but because he was one of the few animals that didn't run away from him.

As soon as the feline spotted him, he scurried towards the boy's legs and created an infinity loop against them, meowing twice.

“Hey there, handsome,” Kageyama said, crouching down and cupping his face with his hands. He scratched the back of his ears with his forefingers and rubbed his thumbs gently over his eyes. Phoenix purred loudly, flicking his long, bushy tail back and forth.

He picked him up and sat on Oikawa's bed. He let him get comfortable on his lap, then began to repeatedly stroke his back.

He didn't stop until he heard his Mother call for him downstairs, asking for where he was.

“I’m up here, Mother!” He called back, which startled Phoenix and made him jump out of his lap.

“Oops, sorry about that.”

He lifted himself off the mattress, dusting off the cat hair on his clothes.

Phoenix suddenly hissed sharply and Kageyama felt something tap his shoulder. When he turned around….

Kageyama couldn't remember anything else after that.

That wasn't caused by stress or lack of sleep. He doesn't think so, for he wasn't feeling stressed or hasn't been going to sleep so late at night around that time. It just happened out of the blue.

He understands now, since he hasn't been getting enough sleep lately, so that could be the case. The first few times still mystify him though.

He tries not to think about it too much.

He rarely got Amnesia, but when he did, it always left him with a feeling of dismay. He can't help but feel like he's forgetting something really important.

“Knock knock, guess the fuck who.”

Kageyama felt relieved at first, but then remembered he was annoyed with the idiots.

“Didn't know chicken turds could talk.” Kageyama murmured, putting his pillow over his head.

Oikawa opened the door. “I heard that.”

“Good for you.”

Iwaizumi followed in and closed the door behind him. “Why are you substituting for Tobio today, Mr. Grouch?”

“I'm not mad,” Kageyama claimed. (He was lying, of course.) “And don't call me that.”

“ _ Mr. Grouch _ ,” Iwaizumi repeated and smacked his hand down on Kageyama's pillow.

“You ass!” Kageyama removed the pillow from his head and tried swinging it at Iwaizumi's own. He ended up hitting Oikawa instead, who went tumbling down to the floor.

“Hey! That fucking hurt!” Oikawa yelled, rubbing his cheek.

Kageyama let out an apology through his fit of laughter. Iwaizumi covered his face, body shaking.

“Shut the fuck up, both of you! How did you find that so funny?”

“Because the way you went flying,” Iwaizumi gasped through laughs, “You were  _ gone _ .”

Kageyama laughed even harder and Oikawa tackled him. Iwaizumi jumped in after him, which had Kageyama suffocating from the weight. He yanked on their hair, telling them to get off.

“Never!” Oikawa declared.

“If it means that you'll keep on laughing like that and stop being so  _ grouchy _ ,” Iwaizumi added.

“Okay, okay, fine!” Kageyama surrendered. He stopped fighting them. “I'll stop being mad—even though I wasn't to begin with.”

“Oh shut it,” Oikawa scolded. He and Iwaizumi slumped down on each of Kageyama’s sides. “We can see right through you just like you can see right through us, you know.”

_ Haven't been able to lately. _

Kageyama sighed. “I know that. But I mean it. I’m not angry. Maybe a little bit annoyed, but only because it's eight-forty on a Saturday morning and two idiotic dicks interrupted my slumber.”

That was partially true. He was genuinely annoyed about yesterday. Both of them running off like that and avoiding him for the rest of the day. Then he finds out that his friends and family apparently have strange meetings in Iwaizumi's house behind his back. 

The two idiotic dicks rolled to their sides and wrapped their arms around Kageyama, sandwiching him.

“We love you too, Tobio,” Oikawa jested, giving him a squeeze.

Achiness spread across Kageyama’s chest. He didn't know why, but the words hit him harder than usual. He once again had a unsettling feeling of Déjà Vu.

“Did one of you happened to tell me that sometime yesterday?” Kageyama asked.

He felt both of them go still.

“Why?” Iwaizumi responded. Quietly.

Kageyama was about to tell them, until his Mother suddenly yelled out that breakfast was ready.

Oikawa and Iwaizumi never seemed so eager to get out of Kageyama's room.

Confused and a little more annoyed, he followed after them.

“Good Morning,” His Mother greeted, giving them a warm smile.

“Good Morning, Ms. Yachi,” Oikawa and Iwaizumi answered in unison.

“Morning, Mother,” Kageyama said, and gave her a kiss on the temple.

He went over to Hitoka, who looked tired and grumpy. Ruffling her hair didn't help her mood.

“Stupid! You know I hate that,” Hitoka snapped, patting down her hair.

“Morning to you too, my dear sister.”

“It's way too early for a Saturday morning,” She muttered, stuffing her face into her coffee.

“Yes, it is,” Kageyama agreed, eyeing the two boys sitting across from him. Oikawa stuck his tongue out and Iwaizumi did a quick pull of the middle finger.

His Mother placed an omelette in front of Hitoka and himself. He closed his eyes, breathing in the warm smell of eggs, ham, and cheese.

“Have you guys eaten yet?” Mother asked, looking at Iwaizumi. “I could cook up an omelette for the two of you.”

“That would be great, thanks,” Iwaizumi replied, smiling.

Kageyama was halfway done eating his breakfast when he finally decided to bring the incident up.

“So, uh, I think I got Amnesia yesterday.”

“Oh no, honey, again?” His Mother said, looking over her shoulder and frowning in concern.

Kageyama slightly narrowed his eyes.

“Yeah…it happened some time when I walked back from Iwaizumi's house.”

Everyone at the table froze and his Mother suddenly dropped a plate from her hand.

“Woah, mom, be more careful!” Kageyama said, rushing to her side. She let out a quick apology and he bent down, picking up the big pieces while she went to go grab the broom and dustpan for the smaller ones.

“What were you doing over there?” Iwaizumi asked, turning around in his chair and gripping the top rail tightly.

“'cause I wanted to talk,” Kageyama answered, not looking at him, “But apparently you guys are becoming deaf. Should I start learning sign language?”

Oikawa rolled his eyes. “Very funny.”

“I'm serious! I was banging on that door like crazy and you guys didn't hear a thing! The hell were you guys doing that you possibly couldn't hear it?”

Oikawa blushed madly and Iwaizumi looked down at his hands.

“Eww,” Hitoka said, scrunching up her nose. “Way to go, Tobio. Now I'm traumatized.”

“Well,” Mother piped, trying not to smile, “There’s your answer.”

Kageyama let out a bitter laugh. They seriously were  _ not _ going to make that excuse.

“Uh, sweetie?” Mother questioned, looking at him with puzzlement.

“ _ Sex _ ? Are you fucking  _ kidding _ me?” Kageyama suddenly barked, which made his Mother jump.

“Woah, Tobio, calm down now,” Hitoka warned, frowning at him.

“ _ Calm down?! _ ” He hollered.

He knew he should. He was about to break any second and spill out everything he knew. But he didn't and knew that he shouldn't.

He was fucking tired of all of this though. He was tired of everyone acting weird. He was tired of secrets being kept from him. He knew what they were all doing and the fact that they were going to use that kind of excuse on him, keep on  _ lying _ to him, was raging.

Why can't they tell him the fucking truth? What are they hiding?

“How could I? How  _ could _ I?”

“Honey, please—”

As he felt her hand on his shoulder, he snapped. He growled and smacked it away so hard that she yelped in pain.

“ _ Don’t _ you try to 'honey' me, Madoka!”

Her eyes widened from the mention of her name and she choked out a sob.

Kageyama suddenly felt pain burst through his cheek and fell down to the floor.

A hand violently grabbed at his collar, yanking him towards flaring, brown eyes.

“How  _ dare _ you land a hand on her!” Hitoka bellowed. As she rose her fist again, aiming for another blow, Iwaizumi screamed, “Enough!”

Kageyama sat there, cheek throbbing and out of breath. He froze as he noticed Oikawa looking at him in fear and confusion, Hitoka looking like she wanted to murder him, Iwaizumi like he was some crazy person, and his mother quietly sobbing into her hands, her right one a bright red color.

Guilt began to creep up his throat, but he swallowed it right back down.

He had every right to be angry.

“I'm not ignorant!” Kageyama yelled. He pushed Hitoka’s hand away. “I'm not a little kid anymore!”

He stood up and stomped his way to the front door.

“Tobio!” His Mother called out, but he ignored her, slamming the door behind him.

He started running and didn't stop until he reached the park.

  
  
  
  
  


He laid there, on the grass, his limbs spread out and eyes watching the clouds move throughout the sky.

Then the clouds turned into blobs, as the warm tears rapidly began escaping the corner of his eyes as he let everything that just happened sink into his mind, let it painfully soak his heart with the image of smacking his mother and making her cry.

_ God _ he wanted someone to punch him. Again. He deserved it.

“Are you okay?”

Red hair is suddenly in the right side of his vision.

He got up so fast that the person yelped in surprise.

“Hinata?” Kageyama asked.

But it wasn't Hinata. It was a little girl.

She _ really _ looked like him though. Same warm brown eyes and red messy hair that was put into two pigtails with a small sunflower in front on the top of her head.

She cocked her head to the side. “How do you know my name?” Then she gasped. “Are you a wizard?”

Kageyama frowned, but smiled. “No, I'm afraid not.”

Her face fell. “Oh.” Then she frowned and pointed at his cheek. “Why are you crying?”

“Oh, Uh—um—” He sputtered as he wiped the wet streaks off his cheeks and teardrops hanging from the bottom of his chin.

“It's okay. It's okay to cry,” She comforted, coming close and lightly patting the top of his head.

That touch did something. Before he knew it, he felt the dam inside break, spilling out all the guilt, confusion, frustration, and pain he's felt these past days.

Strangely, The image of Hinata Shouyou accompanied the flood.

He hung his head and began sobbing and whimpering, gasping audibly and choking on the quick intakes of breath.

The little girl finally withdrew her hand, crouching down and tilting her head to look at his face.

“You okay now?”

As Kageyama’s crying fit gradually subsided, he came to realized that he actually  _ did _ feel much better.

“Yeah, I am,” He sighed, giving her a small smile.

She suddenly sprung up, pointing her finger in his face.

“Good! It's always best to let it all out!”

He hummed, staring at her.

“What's your name, love?”

“Hinata Natsu!”

Kageyama extended his hand towards her. “Kageyama Tobio. It's a pleasure to meet you.”

She took it, surprising him with a firm grip.

“I know! It's nice to finally meet you!”

“What?” He said, frowning in confusion. “What do you mean by—”

He was cut off as soon as a big white cotton ball bounded it's way towards them, yipping and jumping itself into Kageyama's lap.

He let out a  _ oof _ and then felt wetness on his bottom lip.

“Blue! Stop that!” Natsu protested, grabbing the dog by its collar. “Sorry about her. She's mine.”

It was a Chow Chow. It was so fluffy, that it reminded Kageyama of this teddy bear he used to have. And her eyes were the iciest blue he's ever seen.

Kageyama shook his head. “It's okay, I don't mind. I like dogs.”

Blue barked and flopped her pink tongue onto one side of her mouth, panting rapidly.

He reached over and scratched her head. She was soft, his fingers sliding easily through her coat. She escaped from the girl’s grip and jumped back into his lap. He laughed, feeling all giddy inside. It made him happy that the dog didn't seem to hate him.

“Blue!”

“It's fine, really—” Kageyama started, but stopped abruptly when he looked up and saw the little girl looking over her shoulder.

“Blue! Where in  _ rūtsu _ did she _ — _ Natsu? Is that you?”

Hinata came jogging towards them, then stopped in front of Natsu.

Blue pounced off of Kageyama and started jumping around Hinata.

“You little rascal,” Hinata said.

Blue sneezed.

“And  _ you _ ,” He snapped, looking up at Natsu. “You can't just go off like that.”

She rolled his eyes. “I can take care of myself, you know. Unlike you, who's always getting lost and  _ losing everything.” _

Kageyama couldn't help but snort. “Such a dumbass.”

“Excuse me, sir, but I'll like it very much if you didn't—” Hinata began, but stopped when he recognized who it was.

“K-ka-kage…..”

Kageyama leaned in close towards Natsu and whispered, “and apparently he doesn't know how to speak properly.”

That sent her into a fit of giggles.

“Hey! I'm right here you know!”

Hinata was wearing a light blue parka jacket, white shirt, dark jeans, and a pair of white vans.

Then there was his hair. That red fluffy hair standing out even more than usual.

“So? Gonna do something about it?” He mocked.

Hinata narrowed his eyes, pushing his tongue up against the inside of his bottom lip.

“You head on home now, Natsu,” Hinata said, not taking his eyes off of Kageyama. “Take Blue with you.”

“No! Do I have to?” She whined.

“ _ go _ .”

She pouted. “Fine.”

Hinata handed her a leash and she latched it onto Blue’s collar. She waved goodbye to Kageyama before scurrying away with the dog yapping and skipping at her feet.

Hinata watched her until she was out of sight.

He looked back at Kageyama, giving him a playful smile and stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

“Maybe that's why you don't have many friends, since you're so  _ mean _ .”

Kageyama smirked and raised a brow.

“Mean sounds better compared to  _ stalker. _ ”

Hinata blushed at that. “No fair.”

“You played yourself into that one.”

“ _ Bakageyama! _ ”

“Wha— _ Dumbass! _ ”

“ _ Giraffe!” _

“ _ Shrimp!” _

“ _ Tomato head!” _

Kageyama scrunched up his nose. “Tomato head? What the fuck does that mean?”

“You're short-tempered, duh,” Hinata replied.

“I am  _ not _ .”

“ _ Are too.” _

“ _ Am not.” _

“ _ Are. Too. _ ”

Kageyama opened up his mouth to spit back at him again, but a laugh came out instead. Then he's laughing so hard, his body begins trembling.

Hinata looks at him for a moment like he's a madman, but ends up joining him too, throwing his head back and letting out a laugh that makes Kageyama's heart skip a beat.

Without meaning to—

“You have a nice laugh.”

Hinata looked taken aback, a blush creeping up into his cheeks.

Kageyama’s body was already on fire, his hands beginning to sweat. He let out a hiccup.

“I—! U-um, I didn't—”

“ _ Thank you, _ ” Hinata interrupted, smiling shyly.

Kageyama nervously looked down at his legs, crossing them and giving his ankles a squeeze.

“So what brings you here this early in the morning?” Hinata asked.

Images of people painted with anger and sadness popped into his mind. He looked to the side.

“Well….”

Hinata plopped himself in front of Kageyama, hair bouncing from the action and causing a few locks to fall over his forehead.

“Do you have a dog of your own? Is that why you're out here?”

Kageyama shook his head. “Animals hate me.”

Hinata scoffed. “They do not.”

Kageyama shrugged. “Most animals do.”

“Did you see what Blue just did? She doesn't do that to all the strangers she sees.”

“Tell that to all of the ones that bit and ran away from me.”

Hinata rolled his eyes. “Maybe you're not treating them right.”

“I am! I would! I'll try to be as gentle as possible, but they act like I'm some kind of contagious disease.”

Hinata laughed, covering his mouth with the back of his hand.

“I suppose you are then.”

“Who's the one being mean now?” Kageyama jested, leaning in close.

Hinata instinctively did the same, smiling softly. “I’m afraid that's still you.”

“Is that so?”

“Mm-hm~”

Kageyama felt warmth all over, making him pull back quickly from the suddenness of it.

It felt a bit odd, but somehow familiar.

It felt strangely good. And Safe.

Kageyama closed his eyes, letting out a shudder as goosebumps rushed up his arms and neck.

“I think something’s...wrong,” Kageyama gasped. “I feel really...weird right...now.”

The heat was gone right after he said that, and Kageyama heard Hinata curse and apologize, which confused him, but was dazed to ponder over it for too long.

He snapped out of it when he felt wetness on his chin.

It was a dog. A different one.

It was a Collie. It’s thick coat was a light shade of beige with paws and right ear dipped in white.

It began nuzzling Kageyama's face, which made him giggle.

“Who's dog is this?” He asked, putting his hand under its snout and raising it up gently to look at it's collar. It read:  Dandelion.

Hinata’s eyes widened. “That's—”

“She's mine.”

Kageyama turned to where the voice came from and was greeted with a tall figure.

It was four-eyes.

The collie made her way towards him, wagging her tail.

“Tsukishima,” Hinata acknowledged, standing up and looking a little nervous.

“Hinata,” four-eyes replied, staring at him boredly.

Kageyama stood up also, clearing his throat.

The guy looked at him and slightly narrowed his eyes.

“We haven't properly met, now have we? My name's Tsukishima Kei. Pleased to meet you.”

He stuck his hand out.

Kageyama glanced down at it, then took it, giving it a firm shake.

“Kageyama Tobio.”

Another head suddenly popped into his vision, next to Tsukishima.

It was freckles.

“Hello! Nice to meet you. I'm Yamaguchi Tadashi,” The boy greeted, presenting a big smile.

Kageyama gave a small one back. “I'm Kageyama Tobio.”

“I see you've befriended that shrimp already,” Tsukishima said, jerking his chin towards the redhead.

Hinata fiddled with the zipper of his jacket.

_ Why is he so worked up for?  _ Kageyama thought, watching him as he looked everywhere but at Tsukishima. _ Is the guy that scary? _

At first glance, Kageyama could see the intimidation he could give off, but now he just seems like someone who'll be getting on Kageyama's nerves all the time.

He felt something poke his leg and he looked down, meeting emerald-green eyes.

It was a Collie—another one. This one had a coffee-brown coat with darker spots splattered all over.

What's up with all these dogs just popping out of nowhere? Kageyama's heart can only take so much.

“Oops, sorry! That one's mine,” Yamaguchi claimed. He patted his thigh. “Come here, boy.”

The canine bounded off, sitting himself down on Yamaguchi's side.

“What's his name?” Kageyama asked. (He really wanted to pet him.)

“Dipper,” Yamaguchi replied. “Know why? He has the little one on his chest.”

“Really? Cool,” Kageyama said, staring at the dog, who was staring right back. (He wanted to touch it so bad.)

Yamaguchi let out a giggle and said, “Yes, Kageyama-kun, you can touch him.”

Kageyama flicked his eyes up at him, blushing. “How—”

“It's written all over your face,” Tsukishima snickered. “I’m guessing you really like dogs, huh?”

“Shut it,” Kageyama snapped, but still went over and began stroking Dipper’s head.

He started wagging his fluffy tail, leaning into Kageyama's touch. (He could die happy right now.) Then Dipper suddenly looked to his right and growled.

“Well, well, well! Would you look who it is?”

Kageyama winced.

He knew that goddamn voice anywhere.

You would if you've been insulted with it for four years now.

Kageyama stood up slowly and turned around, seeing Taketora Yamamoto standing a few feet away, with his usual little minion right beside him, Nobuyuki Kai.

Taketora tilted his head to the side and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “What's up, Kags? Not here with those two faggot friends of yours?”

Why did they have to show up now?

“I see that he's got some other faggots with him today,” Nobuyuki added, smirking.

“Don't call them that,” Kageyama said, trying to keep his temper at balance. “And they're not my friends.”

Taketora gasped and hovered his hand over his mouth. “Oh my! Saying that right in front of them. What a mean guy you are, Kags.”

Kageyama growled.

He despised that nickname. It's why he referred to him as that.

“Leave us alone, Taketora. It's too early for this shit.”

He suddenly felt warm fingers wrapping around his left arm.

“Should we get going?” Hinata whispered, looking up at him in concern and glancing over at the two boys.

“S’that your little boyfriend?” Taketora joked. “Didn’t think younger guys would be your type.”

Hinata quickly released Kageyama’s arm and took a step away from him.

Kageyama was angry now.

“Get lost, Yamamoto,” He sneered, fisting and unfisting his hands.

All of this bullying began when they were in seventh grade—well, it didn't really begin with him.

Oikawa and Iwaizumi finally made it publicly known that they were dating. It was a risk—they knew it—but they didn't care. They didn't want to keep their relationship a secret anymore.

On the first three weeks of their relationship being out in the open, nothing really happened. There were some stares here and there, but for the most part, nobody seemed to care that two boys were going out with one another.

Then came the two new transferred students: Taketora and Nobuyuki.

Kageyama remembered them entering the room. Taketora coming in first, his blonde-dyed hair buzzed into a mohawk, his short, thick eyebrows furrowed and brown eyes narrowed.

And Nobuyuki, with his jet black hair shaved into a buzz cut and his heavy lidded eyes that always made him seem like he's bored.

Lucky Oikawa—Taketora was seated right behind him.

It started out small. One day, he just started to throw pieces of paper at Oikawa on the back of his head. Oikawa would either give him mean glares or just completely ignore him. (Kageyama insisted on giving him a good beating, but Oikawa opposed to the idea. He didn't want the situation to get violent.) (He also made Kageyama promise not to tell Iwaizumi about this. That pissed off Kageyama a lot, but he promised anyway.)

Nobuyuki wasn't really a problem. He never harassed Oikawa. It was always Taketora doing the bullying and he'll just be beside him, snickering at everything he did to Oikawa.

At one point, Nobuyuki leaned close to Taketora and whispered something. Then Taketora leaned towards Okiawa’s ear and asked, “Is it true that you're gay?”

Oikawa spun around to him, squinting his eyes, and confidently said, “Yes, I am. Have a problem with that?”

Taketora smirked, then shrugged and slouched back into his chair. He didn't do or say anything else for the rest of that day.

Then the pieces of papers thrown began to have words in them.

They'll say  _ fucking queer, little faggot,  _ or _ cocksucker. _

It made Oikawa cry a couple of times.

Then he just stopped reading them and would throw them right back at Taketora.

It was driving Kageyama fucking crazy that he couldn't do anything about the bullying or tell Iwaizumi everything. To let it out, he’ll go to Tanaka instead and vent to him about the bastard.

Kageyama sat in front, while Oikawa sat in the back, so it was difficult for him to keep an eye on them.

Then one day, there was suddenly a loud “you little fuck!”, a smack, and a yelp that came from Oikawa.

Once Kageyama processed what just happened, he didn't waste a second on springing out from his chair and lunging himself at Taketora.

Oikawa was yelling at Kageyama to stop, but he didn't listen. He also didn't try pulling him away.

Nobuyuki tried yanking him off of Taketora but Kageyama grabbed him by the back of his neck and head-butted him into oblivion.

He didn't know how long he was punching Taketora, but he was a  _ mess _ by the time the teachers pulled Kageyama away from him.

That didn't stop him though; He was able to get some good kicks onto his face before he was out of reach to do anymore.

Kageyama fought against the teachers, yelling to let him go, until he felt rough hands firmly holding the sides of his face.

“Get a fucking grip, Kageyama!” Iwaizumi yelled, his face so close that Kageyama could see the brown specks in those wide, green eyes.

Kageyama listened, stopping completely when he saw Oikawa on the ground crying, trembling. Taketora was beside him, a pool of blood surrounding his head, limbs splayed out, chest unmoving.

Trepidation infused his stomach, drowning his lungs and hitching his breath. The sound of sirens from ambulances didn't help his growing fear.

_ Why is there so much blood?? _

“You slammed his head to the ground a couple of times,” Iwaizumi said, looking down at the limp body. He then faced him, seeing the look Kageyama was giving him. He rolled his eyes. “It's written all over your face, moron, that you're clearly confused with all the blood on the floor. You really don't remember doing it?”

Kageyama didn't speak, just gave him a dumbfounded look instead. He looked down at Taketora.

The first thing that came to his mind was,  _ dead _ .

He shook his head, desperately trying to drag the word out from of his mind. He squeezed his eyes shut, eyes that were beginning to burn.

_ No, no, no. He can't be. He's not. He's not. He's not that. He can't be. I didn't mean to. I didn't mean to! _

He really didn't mean the beating to get out of hand. But the image of all the times he would bully Oikawa and made him cry kept clouding his mind, pressing him to keep on going, getting harder and harder with every punch.

He opened his eyes and saw teachers hovering above Taketora body, two of them giving him CPR and another two cleaning up the blood.

Oikawa and Iwaizumi were gone. All the students were evacuated from the classroom.

Kageyama stood there, frozen, paralysed, hot tears streaming down his cold cheeks. He began to cry out, repeatedly saying that he didn't mean to hurt him that badly, that it was an accident.

One of the counselors there was suddenly in front of him, saying something but Kageyama couldn't hear a thing from the pounding of his heart and the sound of his sobs flooding his ears.

_ Let him be okay. Don't let him die. Don't let him die! _

“Please,” Kageyama whispered, “Please!”

“He's breathing! He's breathing!” someone announced, receiving a lot of sighs and cries of relief in reply.

Paramedics began flooding the room, taking over and handling the situation from there.

When he was finally taken into the ambulance, that's when his Mother finally showed up. Once she spotted him, she dashed towards him and pulled him into a tight hug.

Kageyama started to sob again. His Mother didn't say anything, just hugged him even tighter.

Mrs. Taketora wanted to sue them, but his mother begged her not to and offered to pay all the medical bills instead. Mrs. Taketora refused, but her husband was able to convince her.

There weren't that many bills, however, which surprised all of them.

The doctor revealed that there were surprisingly no fractured bones (Kageyama was sure that he’d broken some ribs and his nose) and not much of a wound in the back of head, despite the huge amount of blood loss.

“He's been recovering very quickly these past three days. he'll probably be able to go home after two more. It's honestly a miracle.”

Throughout this whole conversation, Mrs. Taketora looked absolutely perplexed. Kageyama couldn't blame her. Everything that the doctor just said couldn't be possible.

Kageyama also noticed how his Mother was looking at him, like she was trying to figure out how this “miracle” was to be true and she’ll somehow know the answer by staring him down. How would he have it?

As the Taketoras were busy discussing the situation with the doctor and Kageyama's mother finally withdrew her attention away from him, he sneaked into Taketora's room.

He turned the doorknob and opened the door slowly, just in case Taketora was sleeping, but a head turned and watched the black-haired boy step inside the room.

Both boys didn't say anything at first, the silence only being accompanied by the beeping of the heart monitor.

Kageyama ignored how it slightly paced up.

He made his way towards the bed, then went down on his knees and bowed his head low to the ground.

“Please forgive me. I had no intention on beating you to the point of death. I-I wasn't thinking properly and—”

“Get up, you idiot,” Taketora ordered, his voice muffled from his hands covering his face.

He made a gap between the fingers over his eyes and saw Kageyama gaping up at him.

He let his hands fall and let out a deep sigh. “I said get up, you idiotic ass! Are you deaf or something?”

Kageyama blinked, then hurriedly got to his feet. “S-sorry.”

Taketora rolled his eyes, locking them onto the window.

“What you did wasn't wrong...well, maybe just a little. But my point is that it's partially my fault.”

He turned back to look at Kageyama, who was about to say something, but Taketora put a hand up, silencing him.

“Let me finish.”

Kageyama closed his mouth.

“The truth is,” Taketora began, then said the upcoming words more rapidly, “I have a crush on Oikawa.”

Kageyama let his mouth drop open again.

Taketora looked away from him and down to hands.

“I...I liked him way before we started to acknowledge each other. I known about him since first grade all the way up to fourth, until I had to move away.

“Oikawa knew, apparently. He knew I liked him. He also remembered me. That’s why I punched him, because he turned around and said to me,  _ Do you act this way because you like me? Is that? Oh, don't look at me like that—you didn't think I knew? I knew from the beginning, Taketora. Ever since first grade. _

“I didn't know how to react. Everyone began staring at me and I started panicking. And before I knew it, I decked the guy.”

“What a way to your affection,” Kageyama muttered. He was now sitting on the chair beside the bed, staring at nothing.

“Shut it,” Taketora snapped, giving off a sneer. “I can’t help it, you know. Ya think I asked to be like this? To show my emotions by being aggressive? It was how I was raised and forced to be. How I was  _ shown _ .”

Kageyama looked at him, his brows furrowing slightly, confusingly.

“Don't think about it, pretty boy,” Taketora piped, as he noticed  Kageyama opening up his mouth. “I'm not about to get into my personal life and be all weak and mopey talking about it with you.”

Kageyama tilted his head, the corners of his mouth twitching.

“That's hardly an insult.”

Taketora raised a brow at him. “The hell you talking about?”

“ _ Pretty boy. _ ”

“Uwah—!”

Taketora suddenly turned into a tomato inside a three hundred degree oven, looking at Kageyama with owl eyes, while the black-haired boy burst out giggling.

“I-I didn't say that, stupid!”

“ _ Did too. _ ”

“Did not!”

“You liar.”

“Am  _ not. _ ”

“Your heart is literally beating like crazy, you know.”

Taketora finally noticed the rapid beeping coming from the heart monitor. He really couldn't get any redder than he already was, so he decided he probably looked a shade of purple at the moment.

“Oh my God, why couldn't I just died,” Taketora groaned, covering his face once again.

That snapped Kageyama out from his fit of laughter, his face falling dead serious.

“Do  _ not _ say that.”

Taketora whipped his head towards him, shocked from the amount of venom that dripped from the words.

“Don’t  _ ever _ say that again. You might be an asshole and a complete moron, but you don't deserve to die. And die by  _ my _ hands?  _ Never  _ in a million years.”

Taketora just stared him, his mouth hanging open, utterly speechless.

“I'm—I’m sorry,” He finally spit out after finding his voice again.

Kageyama shook his head and closed his eyes.

“ _ I’m _ the one sorry; it shouldn't be the other way around. You have no idea how relieved I felt when they said you began to breathe again. When the doctor's announced that you possessed so little injuries that it practically seemed that you didn't get beat up in the first place.”

“Relieved?” Taketora whispered, clutching his thighs. “That's close to caring.”

“Of course I care,” Kageyama said. “Why wouldn't I? Even Oikawa was worried.Why wouldn't anyone care?”

Taketora laughed pathetically, shaking his head. “You don't know anything, Kageyama.”

“Well, know this, Taketora,” Kageyama said, rising from where he sat and stepped close enough to the bed to take Taketora’s hand in his. It was cold, which made him squeeze it softly. “Even if it doesn't look like it, there are people other than family that  _ do _ care. It could be a small amount, but the crucial part of it is that they  _ care. _ Always have that in mind.”

Taketora didn't say anything. He went frozen when Kageyama took his hand. He let it go and that's when he realized something blue in Taketora’s hair.

Kageyama reached over (not realizing how Taketora flinched from the gesture) and plucked it out, revealing a flower—a hydrangea.

Kageyama looked at Taketora with questioning eyes, but he was staring at the little flower just as confused.

Kageyama chuckled, which made Taketora snap his eyes up to his face.

He gently placed the flower into Taketora's hand and flashed him a bright smile. He spun around and exited the room without another word.

Taketora felt himself rush out a breath he wasn't aware of holding in.

He gazed down at the single flower in his hand.

The word  _ like _ crossed his mind.

The beeping of the heart monitor sped up once again.

  
  
  
  
  


“Get Lost, Yamamoto.”

“This is the park,” Taketora replied. “I can be here if I wanna be.”

“If you’re just here to just have shit pour out of your mouth then no, you can’t.”

Nobuyuki popped his knuckles loudly, a sneer taking over his face. “Watch the shit that pours out of  _ your _ mouth, asshole.”

Taketora raised his hand up, shushing Nobuyuki.

“In all honesty, I’ve been wanting to talk to you for awhile. It just so happened you were here. Think you can spare me some of your time? Then I promise i’ll leave you alone.”

Kageyama narrowed his eyes at him, skeptical.

Then he finally sighed, giving in. Kageyama couldn't say he hated the guy, even after all he's put Oikawa through. Put  _ him _ through. After the whole incident, Taketora didn't talk to anyone for a whole month and a half, not even Nobuyuki. But once he did, he first started to fool around with Kageyama.

Kageyama expected to get crap for what he did, so he wasn't surprised when Taketora began to do so. (Although he admits after the little moment they had in the hospital room, he thought they might've been able to become friends.)

What  _ did _ surprise him was how bipolar he became.

One day he'll be teasing him nonstop and the next, like they were buddies.

Kageyama gradually got used to this behavior. After what Taketora told him at the hospital, he began to understand that it wasn't his fault on the way he acted.

They stopped walking until they were a good distance away from the others.

Taketora reached into his pocket and pulled out something small and red. He held it out towards Kageyama.

“What is it? A disc?” Kageyama questioned, frowning and taking the flat circular object.

He slid his thumb across the red surface, feeling more confused as he felt it was plastic. He flipped it over, the side revealing not only just red but a dark circle in the center with a white ring around it.

“No, you idiot,” Taketora spat. “It's... it's a pin button.”

Kageyama flicked his eyes up at Taketora, pulling an  _ you're joking, right? _ face.

Taketora rolled his eyes. “Don't give me that look. Just keep it on you. Don't let others see it, okay? No questions.” The last part quickly added as he saw Kageyama open his mouth.

Taketora left without another word, leaving Kageyama there muddled.

He looked down at the “button.” (There wasn't even a lock pin.)

Not to let the others see it? Why had he said that?

_ Embarrassment, probably? _ He thought to himself, stuffing the circular item into his pant’s pocket.  _ For giving me a gift? If you could even call it that. _

Taketora and Nobuyuki were gone when Kageyama finally turned around and started heading back towards the group, only to find one small individual still standing there.

“You okay?” Hinata asked, as Kageyama approached him.

“Yeah, of course,” He assured. He frowned as he looked around. “What happened to the others?”

“They all had to head back home,” Hinata answered, looking behind him.

“Oh.”

A minute of awkward silence passed between them, both boys continuing to stupidly look around.

“You, uh, w-want me to walk you home?” Kageyama suggested, scratching the back of his head.

Hinata faced him, a light pink smearing his cheeks.

“Y-you really don't have to. It’s cold and you don't even have a jacket on……how about I walk you instead? Your house is probably closer.”

“Um,” Kageyama said smartly, “Ok.”

“.....”

“.....”

“.......you're aware I can't lead since I don't know where you live, right?”

“O-oh!” Kageyama sputtered, snapping out of it. “Yeah, yeah, of course.”

Hinata quietly giggled as they began moving.

Why did he always have to make a damn fool of himself in front of him?

“So, where’d you come from?” Kageyama asked as they crossed the street.

Hinata seemed to panic from the question.

“W-what?”

Kageyama frowned, smiling slightly.

“What kind of reaction is that? Like, where did you live before you came to live here. Or did you just move houses?”

“Oh! Um, yeah, the second one.”

Kageyama nodded slowly.

“I see. And you have a sister, I suppose?”

Hinata groaned. “Sorry about her. And if she said anything embarrassing.”

“Well, she  _ did _ say she knew me. Talking about me much?”

Hinata blushed madly.

“N-no!”

Kageyama laughed.

“I hope it was good things at least.”

“I was  _ not _ talking about you.”

Kageyama put up his hands in the universal sign of surrender.

“Whatever you say, Tangerine.”

Hinata whipped his head towards him, mouth agaped.

“ _ Tangerine? _ ”

“What? Would you prefer dumbass?”

“No, but I mean….” Hinata trailed off, eyes harboring what was a mystery to Kageyama, but then quickly shook his head. “N-no! Of course not. It's just that, why tangerine of all things?”

“Because of your hair, duh.”

Hinata frowned, placing a hand on it defensively.

“My hair?”

“Yeah. It looks orange.”

“...Is it atrocious?”

Kageyama was taken aback from the insecurity that toned his voice and the strong use of term.

“Uwah—no, no! Not at all! I...I like it.”

Hinata let out a quiet breath of relief. “Oh... that's good to hear.”

“It’s so fluffy too,” Kageyama added, not being able to shut his mouth up. “Like,  _ super _ fluffy. I bet if you were to touch it, it'll be really soft.”

Hinata nervously laughed.

“Thanks I guess—”

He stopped talking and walking all together as he felt fingers gliding through thick red locks.

“Oh wow,” Kageyama muttered, brushing and clenching Hinata’s hair. “It really is soft.”

“Kage— _ oh _ —please don't do that—”

Kageyama continued to slide his fingers through his hair. Quick at times, then slow, gently.

Without thinking—

“You wanna go somewhere tomorrow?”

“H-huh?” Hinata said, looking up at him with foggy eyes.

Kageyama liked the expression.

“Tomorrow afternoon. Wanna hang out?”

“Hang out…?”

“Yeah. At two thirty, we'll meet up again at the park and go from there.”

“O-okay,” Hinata sputtered out, dropping his head down and leaning into Kageyama’s touch.

It wasn't until he felt like something burned him that he finally yanked his hand away.

“Shit!”

Hinata snapped out of his daze, looking up at Kageyama with concern.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, it's just…...yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about it.”

Kageyama finally let what he had just done sink in and he groaned, covering his face with his hands.

“Fuck, I'm sorry for doing what I was doing.”

Hinata waved his hands frantically, shaking his head.

“It's okay! I, um, get that alot—people touching my hair and stuff.”

Kageyama stared at him.

“Are you being sarcastic?”

“No, no, I mean it, really!”

“I feel like you're lying to make me feel less embarrassed.”

“Is it working?”

“You ass.”

Hinata laughed, shaking his head.

“Sorry, I was just messing with you. Seriously, I wasn't lying.”

Kageyama looked ahead of him, not wanting to make eye contact.

“My house is close by. Don't worry about walking me all the way—you should go home already. Bye.”

Kageyama started walking, then stopped once again as he felt something pull the back of his shirt. He turned around.

“That plan of yours for tomorrow still on?” Hinata asked.

“Oh, uh, yeah,” Kageyama said, looking down at the ground. “If you're truly alright with it…”

“Then I'll see you tomorrow at two thirty! Bye!”

With that, Hinata turned and ran down the sidewalk, leaving Kageyama there stupidly watching him.

Once he disappeared out of sight, Kageyama started walking again, a small smile taking over his lips and a weird feeling filling up his stomach.

“See you, dumbass.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you tell that I really like dogs
> 
> Also, a Maine Coon is my dream cat I want one so fucking bad skfnakdnns—


	5. Chapter 5

Kageyama opened the door and found the house desolated.

Not that he minded.

He took a long hot shower, put some comfortable clothes on, and dropped onto his bed, sinking into it with a long sigh. He stared at nothing for awhile, until he buried his face into his pillow and groaned loudly. 

He kept groaning until he couldn’t breathe and finally lifted up his head.

He took a deep breathe.

He dropped his head again and continued his groans of misery.

“Stop that, will you? You sound like a whale having a mental breakdown.”

Kageyama tensed up and yanked his face away from the pillow, looking up to find Tanaka leaning against his door.

Kageyama relaxed and sat up, crossing his legs.

“I  _ am _ having a mental breakdown, mind you.”

“You should be apologizing instead, asshole.”

The words struck the guilt he pushed away, filling up his stomach once again, making him feel sick.

A little annoyance sunk itself into his stomach too.

“Who told you?”

“Yachi.”

“So you guys are friends now?”

“The hell you mean? We’ve always got along.”

“Not enough to have her running to you about predicaments occuring around here that don’t concern you.”

“Hey,” Tanaka warned, frowning deeply.

“It’s true,” Kageyama argued, standing up from his bed and walking towards the door. He opened it. “So I don’t think it’s your place to be telling me what to do. You can leave now. I’m assuming I accidently left the door open and that's how you got in, so lock it on your way out, okay? Have a good day.”

Tanaka didn’t move, stared at him with vacant eyes instead.

“I said you can leave now,” Kageyama repeated, his grip on the door handle getting tight.

“What’s wrong, Tobio?” Tanaka whispered, those grey eyes now becoming dismal.

A golf ball lodged itself inside Kageyama’s throat. He closed his eyes tightly, forbidding the tears to fall down his cheeks.

“Get out. please,” He whispered back, hating how his voice shook.

“You can  _ talk _ to me, Tobio,” Tanaka pleaded.

“I can’t,” Kageyama croaked.

“Why not? Why are you acting this way? What happened?”

“I  _ can’t _ tell you. You...you’re part of the problem.”

“What?” Tanaka said, surprised. “How...what do you mean by that?”

“ _ Please _ , Ryuunosuke, get out.”

“You can’t expect me to just  _ leave _ after what you—”

“Get out!” Kageyama yelled, his anger rising. “Get! Out!”

Tanaka froze, stood in place for a minute. Then he looked down, sucking in his lips.

He quietly left Kageyama’s room.

kageyama stood where he was until he heard the front door close.

He closed his own and walked back to his bed.

He looked over at his clock.

_ 10:18 a.m. _

He crawled into bed, pulled the sheets over his head, and forced himself to sleep.

He woke back up to the smell of warm chocolate.

He inhaled heavily, rubbing his eyes.

He looked at his clock, now reading:  _ 2:34 p.m. _

He lazily walked downstairs, squinting when the kitchen lights hit his face.

He stopped in his tracks, the sleepiness vanishing.

His mother stood there, her back towards him.

Her attention was focused on grabbing cookie dough from a big bowl, rolling it into a circle, then pushing it flat. She placed the dough on top of a silver tray, and grabbed more cookie dough from the bowl, repeating the steps.

Kageyama looked towards the living room, his sister nowhere to be seen.

When he looked back at his mother, she was standing there with another silver tray of finished chocolate chip cookies in hand, staring at him with a soft smile.

she placed the cookies down onto the kitchen island.

“Hello, sweetheart. You came out just in time. One of the batch of cookies are already done and still warm to eat.”

“Don’t” He quietly said, looking down at his feet. “Don’t be like that. Don’t act like nothing happened.”

Everything fell silent, long enough for Kageyama to raise his head to see if she was still there.

He found her standing in front of him. She placed both hands on his cheeks and brought their foreheads together.

Kageyama’s eyes began to sting badly. He sunk into her and placing his hands on her waist.

“I’m  _ so _ , so sorry,” He whispered, “I-I don’t know what got into me a-and I just—I didn’t—”

“It’s okay, Tobio,” she whispered back, pulling away and bringing her lips to his forehead, giving him a soft peck. “It’s okay. I understand.”

“It’s  _ not _ okay. I h-hit you and that’s  _ totally _ not okay. You’re my mother. You’ve done  _ nothing _ to have deserved that.”

“Trust me, love. You were just angry, frustrated. I understand. It wasn’t intentional.”

Kageyama brought her closer, burying his face into the crook of her neck, wetting it in the process with tears that were finally escaping out from his eyes.

“I love you, mom, I love you so much.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck, giving him a tight squeeze.

“Oh, honey, I love you too.”

She pulled back and smiled softly, giving his cheek a light pat.

“Now go eat those cookies before they get any colder.”

Kageyama ate twelve before he finally felt too disgusting and fat to continue eating any more.

He slumped back in his seat and looked up the stairs. “Is Hitoka in her room?”

“Yeah,” His mother sighed, picking up a cookie and biting into it. “She’s refusing to leave from it for the rest of the day…..I know what you wanna do and I'm not stopping you, but you know how that girl is. She'll probably put a thousand locks on the door to prevent you from coming in. Maybe put up a giant rock too, just for good measure.”

He smiled and stood from his seat, leaning over the table to give her a quick kiss to the cheek.

“I'll tell you how the battle goes.”

“Come back alive!” She called out as Kageyama headed up the stairs.

He stood in front of Hitoka’s door, shifting from one leg to another.

Just as he was about to knock—

“I. Don't. Want. To. Talk.”

Kageyama put down his hand and sighed.

“Not even for thirty seconds?”

“Go away.”

“Twenty?”

“Go. Away.”

“Ten?”

Music began playing from inside the room.

“Five?” Kageyama yelled, but was quickly drowned out by the sound.

He sat down in front of the door and waited.

When it was halfway through the song, Kageyama saw the door slowly open and stopped with a gap wide enough for Hitoka to peek her eye out from.

Kageyama didn't say anything, just stared.

Hitoka stared back for a bit before shutting the door again.

The music stopped and he listened, hearing all kinds of shuffling being made from the other side of the door.

Hitoka opened the door again, this time all the way.

Kageyama quickly got up, tripping over himself a bit.

He stood there quietly, waiting for her to make the first move.

She moved off to the side without a word, looking down at the ground.

Kageyama took this as her allowing him to enter, so he wasted no time in doing so.

“Okay look, Hitoka, I know you're—” Kageyama began, but was interrupted with a blow to the stomach as soon as he turned around.

He cursed, clutching his stomach and falling down to his knees.

_ Man, down. _

_ Sorry for disappointing you, Mother. _

“Fuck, sorry, I honestly didn't mean to do that,” Hitoka apologized, bending down in front of him. “I was really trying to hold myself back.”

“I-it’s okay,” Kageyama sputtered, forcing a smile.

Hitoka sighed and sat herself down on the floor.

“Why were you so angry this morning?” She pointed a finger at him. “And  _ don't _ even try to lie to me, Tobio.”

It was Kageyama's turn to sigh, sitting himself down on the floor too. He massaged the back of his neck, looking off to the side.

“It's….complicated.”

“What's that suppose to mean?”

“I've just been...on edge lately and finding out about...things.”

Hitoka looked at him strangely thoughtful, tilting her head.

“Does it have to do with your sexuality? Although that doesn't sound very excusable to be going around yelling and punching people.”

“What?” Kageyama blurted, taken aback. “No! No, that's not…I’m not—”

_ Dumbass. _

An uninvited blush bloomed upon his cheeks.

“Judging from the look on your face, a specific someone just made you think twice about your answer.”

“ _ Hitoka _ .”

She chuckled. “Sorry, sorry, whenever you're ready to talk about  _ that _ .”

Kageyama groaned, covering his face.

“Oh hush—what’s these  _ things _ that you're talking about then?”

Kageyama squirmed, hesitant. Should he tell the truth now? Is it the right time to do so?

Probably not. Bringing it up will definitely make things more intense than it already was.

He's here to do the opposite after all.

He sighed. “It's not that big of a deal, really. I think I'm just overreacting.”

Hitoka hummed, narrowing her eyes at him suspiciously, but (thankfully) not pushing him to spill the truth.

“I feel kinda bad punching you, but I'm not sorry for it,” Hitoka admitted, looking at his now visibly-bruised cheek.

“You shouldn't be,” Kageyama agreed, “I deserved it.”

Hitoka grabbed his hands with her own warm ones.

“Just...know that I'm here, Tobio. I'm  _ always _ here. You can come to me for anything. Don’t forget that.”

He squeezed her hands, smiling softly.

“I know. Thank you.”

“Now how about the rest of the day we watch comedies with food you'll regret eating and probably cry over about later?”

Kageyama’s smile stretched even wider.

“Sounds like heaven.”

  
  
  
  


Sunday came, it’s 2:55 p.m., and Kageyama’s sitting on a bench in the park thinking why the  _ fuck _ is this dumbass late.

They really needed to exchange email addresses.

Kageyama also didn't think about what he was going to tell his Mother. He couldn't tell her that he was just going out with a friend because he doesn't say  _ friend _ . He says  _ Iwaizumi, Oikawa,  _ or  _ Tanaka _ —his only friends and his Mother knows that.

Saying  _ friend _ would mean somebody  _ new _ and Kageyama not saying their name right away would make his Mother  _ think _ and lead her to start acting all  _ cringey _ and  _ weird _ and wiggling her damn eyebrows.

Sounds specific? He's learned from experience.

So Kageyama lied.

And that went badly to the point where he would've preferred to just had his mother act all cringey and weird and wiggle her damn eyebrows.

To some people, it might not sound like a big deal to just simply make up a little lie about where he was going, but to Kageyama that was like hearing the world was about to get hit by a thousands fucking comets and he was in command of finding a way to stop it.

He couldn't think of shit.

“Tobio?” His mother called, knocking on his door softly.

Kageyama froze, his stomach churning because his whole fucking closet was currently all over his floor.

“Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh,” Was all his oh-so-intelligent brain could make come out of his mouth.

“Um, are you alright…?” She asked, perplexed by the noise he just made.

“H-hold on! Don't come in!”

He began scooping up piles of clothes off his floor and throwing them back into his closet.

“Tobio…” His Mother said, sounding suspicious.

“I’m naked, don't come in!”

She ignored him and swung the door wide open.

She let out a yelp of surprise when her eyes settled onto the floor.

“What in the—”

She looked up at Kageyama to see him frozen with a pile of clothes in his arms.

She blinked. He blinked back. She glanced at the clothes. He glanced at it too.

A beat of silence passed.

Then Kageyama stupidly threw the pile inside the closet.

“Tobio!” She barked, mouth agaped and staring between him and the closet.

“There was a rat on that,” He quickly explained.

“What is  _ wrong _ with you?” What the hell are you  _ doing _ ?”

“I-I-I, um, I-I….”

“Look at this  _ mess _ ,” She continued, coming inside the room all the way, careful not to step on any of the clothes. “It's almost like you're—”

She paused and narrowed her eyes at him.

Then her mouth slowly turned up into a villainous smile.

_ Uh-oh. _

_ “Tobioooo~” _

“Please don't, Mom—”

“Are you getting ready for a  _ date? _ ”

“ _ NO. _ ”

“Aaaah! Oh my gosh, you  _ are! _ ” She squealed, her hands balled into fists, bringing them up to her chest and shaking them rapidly from side to side.

“No. I'm.  _ Not. _ Please get out, Mother.”

She pouted. “Rude! Is she pretty? Nice? Let me help you pick an outfit, yeah?”

“Oh my go—”

“Ooo! This shirt would be nice!”

“ _ Mom. _ ”

“ _ Tobio. _ ”

“It’s not a  _ date _ . You can stop it already with that word.”

“Oh really? Then what is it?” She said, an eyebrow raised and placing a hand on her hip.

“I'll clean this whole mess when I get back,” He said, dodging her question.

His Mother didn't press, just shrugged and began walking out the door.

“Whatever you say, sweetie~”

Kageyama plopped himself onto his bed after she closed the door, eyes roaming the clothes on the floor.

He's been at this for  _ thirty minutes _ already and he was getting annoyed now.

_ The hell I'm wasting so much time over on a fucking outfit?? _

It wasn't like this was a  _ date. _

This was definitely  _ not _ a date.

He sighed.

He really needed to start controlling his behavior when it came to that guy.

So Kageyama ended up throwing on whatever and headed out the front door, his Mother saying goodbye way to eagerly.

He bit the inside of his cheek, looking around for the thousandth time.

_ Did something happen? Did he change his mind? Did he not want to come anymore? It's getting way too late. Why am I still even here? Why am I still waiting for this dumbass? He’s probably not coming anymore, so I'm wasting my damn time. I really am just wasting my— _

“Kageyama!”

Hinata came dashing towards him, almost tripping over himself when he came to a stop.

He put his hands on his knees, panting heavily.

“I'm….so sorry….for being late…!”

Kageyama clicked his tongue, crossing his arms against his chest and looking away angrily.

“ _ Dumbass _ , do you know how long I was waiting?”

“I’m really really sorry,” Hinata apologized again. “Something, uh, came up.”

Kageyama shook his head. He stood up and walked past him.

“Whatever. Let's get going.”

“To, um, to where exactly?” Hinata asked.

“To see the cherry blossoms.”

“ _ No _ .”

Kageyama turned around, frowning.

“What? You...you don’t want to? Why not? Didn’t you say you liked—”

Hinata waved frantically. “No! N-no, I meant, um, I-I meant like not  _ yet _ I'm, uh, I'm a little...hungry.”

“Oh. That's fine,” Kageyama said, and tilted his head. “What do you...want to eat then?”

Hinata gave a peculiar troubled face before biting his lip and looking around, thinking.

“Uuuuuumm….”

Kageyama rolled his eyes.

“Hurry up and just pick a fast food place you usually go to. You've wasted enough time as it is.”

Now Hinata just gaped at him like he just spoke Arabic.

“ _ Are you fu _ —” Kageyama started off but then stopped, composing himself.

“Yoshinoya. We're going there, whether you like that place or not. Let's  _ go _ .”

Hinata didn't say anything, just fell in step with him instead, following.

The two boys didn't say anything to each other during the walk to the restaurant. Once they arrived, they entered and seated themselves in a table.

Few minutes later, a lady came over with a notepad and pen in her hands and a bright white smile on her face.

“Hello! Can I get your guys’ drinks?”

“Coca-Cola for me, please,” Kageyama said, giving a small smile.

“No problem! And you, little one?”

It took both of them to registered what she just said and once it sunk in, Kageyama slapped a hand over his mouth to stop himself from letting out a laugh.

Hinata just gawked at the woman, utterly baffled.

“With all due respect, ma’am, I am  _ not _ a child.”

The woman's eyes widened.

“Oh! Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! Please forgive me!”

She kept on apologizing and bowing, and Hinata just shook his head, waving a hand dismissively and saying it's okay. He shot a sharp glare towards Kageyama, which made the boy shake even harder, trying to contain his laughter.

“I’ll just have water, thank you.”

Once she left, that's when Kageyama finally let it out.

“Quit it! It's not that funny,” Hinata snapped, but he didn't really sound mad—seemed amused in a way.

“Alright, I'm done,” Kageyama promised, his fit of laughter subsiding.

Hinata looked away, ears flushed pink.

Kageyama stared and thought how in the hell can this boy get on his nerves in one second and make his heart feel all  _ bwaah _ the next?

Kageyama halted his thoughts.

_ Bwaah? _ As in...what? Li…?

_ Judging from the look on your face, a specific someone just made you think twice about your answer. _

Kageyama shook his head.

“You okay?”

Hinata was looking at him with knitted eyebrows.

“Yeah, I'm okay, don't worry,” Kageyama assured, smiling.

Hinata made a weird face before focusing on the table.

It wasn't like Kageyama was opposed to the idea of dating a boy. He was honestly confused, trying to figure out if he actually  _ liked _ them and that'll mean he's bisexual, or he only liked girls and was just _ fine _ with it if it were to ever happen, which in a way didn't really make him bisexual.

Did it?

Figuring out your sexual orientation is hard.

They finally received their drinks and ordered their food afterwards. As they waited, Hinata would ask Kageyama random simple questions. Your age? Birthday? Likes? Dislikes? And so on.

It was a bit weird. Not the questions, but the fact that everytime Kageyama answered them, Hinata had this expression on like he knew what it would be already.

Once the food came, that's when Kageyama asked, “How about you, mm? Are you the same age?”

“Yeah,” Hinata replied, picking up the chopsticks awkwardly.

“When's your birthday?”

There was a strange pause before he said, “June twenty-first.”

Kageyama chose to ignore it.

“Any likings?”

“Ooo there's this thi—uh, two kinds of food that I like which is eggs over rice and meat buns!”

Hinata stuck two big pieces of beef into his mouth. He made a pleased look and then added—

“An’ fuh’ee!”

“What?” Kageyama blurted, confused, chopsticks stopping midway towards his lips. “Don't speak with your mouth full, dumbass.”

“Volley!” Hinata repeated once he gulped down the food.

“Do you mean volley _ ball _ ?”

“Oh, uh, yeah! That!”

Kageyama rose an eyebrow in amusement. “Really?”

“Mm-hmm!”

“Do you play?”

“Unfortunately, no.”

“I actually played it in middle school and at the beginning of high school.”

“You did?”

“Yeah, but then I quit about a month ago.”

Hinata looked at him in shock. “And why would you do that?”

Kageyama shrugged. “I’m not so sure, honestly. I didn't quit because I got bored or was bad at it—quite the opposite, actually—but I mysteriously began feeling...empty? If that makes sense? Like a piece was missing. For some reason, it just didn't feel  _ right _ . There was this one game where as I was getting ready to set the ball, I began looking for someone to give it to. It wasn't just looking for  _ anyone _ —I was looking for  _ someone _ ...I don't know who though. I looked at each and every one of my teammates, some of them wide open, but none felt  _ right.  _ Felt like that  _ someone _ . Before I knew it, the ball’s already falling down and it's too late for me to catch it.

That mistake was made again in another game. Then a third, and fourth, fifth, sixth, until I finally decided to quit, I couldn't go on like this.”

Hinata gawked at him.

“Wow, I.....wow.”

Kageyama shrugged. “Whatever. It’s not a big deal.” He pushed his bowl away, not feeling hungry anymore. He leaned forward on the table, peering into Hinata’s own bowl to see how much more he still had.

“What the fuck??”

Hinata panickedly peered into the bowl too. “W-what? What's wrong with it?”

“I literally only saw you take one bite out of that bowl and it's completely empty.”

Hinata blinked then laughed, leaning back into his chair.

“You idiot. You made me get scared for nothing.”

“It  _ is _ scary!”

Hinata rolled his eyes.

“We're done here, right? You're not gonna finish your own bowl?”

“No, I'm good. Let's go.”

They ended up just mindlessly walking around, forgetting about the cherry blossoms. They talked and talked, laughing at times and arguing over stupid little things the next.

They'll go silent for a while, walking and watching as the sky gradually turned from blue to hues of pink and orange. Then one of them would speak up, saying a random thing that just came into mind and from there, their chatter will rise once again.

Once half of the sun hid itself behind mountains and twinkles in the sky began to come in sight, Kageyama announced, “Well, it's almost getting dark. We should start heading home now.”

“Yeah, we should,” Hinata agreed. Slight hesitancy filled his eyes and blush tipped his cheeks. “Do you...want me to walk you home?”

Kageyama nodded, his heart unwillingly fluttering. “That'll be fine.”

When they were a few blocks from arriving to his house, Hinata stopped in his tracks.

“Something wrong?” Kageyama asked.

Hinata shook his head, red locks shaking along with him. “Nothing's wrong. I'll just, um, stop here and start heading home now.”

“Oh, okay,” Kageyama said, stuffing his hands into his pockets. He suddenly began feeling awkward and shy, looking down at the pavement.

“Well, uh, I guess I'll see...you...around..?”

Hinata seemed to brightened up with those words, a jovial smile taking over his lips.

“I'll...see you around then. Bye.”

He turned around and began walking away.

Kageyama did the same thing, taking a couple of steps before looking over his shoulder.

Hinata was already gone.

That's when his brain finally wanted to start working (for once in it's goddamn life) and remind him about how he wanted to exchange emails.

_ Thanks for all you do brain. _

Kageyama walked the last few blocks to his house with him muttering about how utterly useless this brain of his was.

Too busy muttering to feel someone watching him from afar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll like to upload more than one chapter every month, but school just has me weighed down with school shit and I'm not able to give as much attention towards writing as I'll like to. (So thank God it's almost over. I'll try updating as much as I can during the summer!) Then at times I'll be giving my attention towards other stories that I'm currently working on (when I should be giving it to this story instead lol. But yes! Other stories! One of em has already been chosen to be shared once this story comes to an end. Don't wanna give anything away, but all I can say is that if you're a katsudeku shipper, you're in for a treat~)  
> My ass should've said this earlier, but huge thanks to all of you lovelies leaving kudos. <3 I appreciate it!  
> Anyways, I've babbled enough. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you on the next! <3


	6. Chapter 6

“Onii-san!”

Natsu trotted over to Hinata as he closed the front door behind him, hugging his right leg tightly and looking up at him with a smile.

“Hey, Natsu,” He greeted softly, mirroring the smile and ruffling her hair.

She giggled, the sound warming Hinata’s chest.

“You went out and got enough sun, right?”

“Uh-huh!” She chirped, pulling away.

“Good. Now go and put on your sleepwear. It's almost time for you to go and get some rest.”

She nodded and ran to her room.

He went to his own and fell backwards onto his bed, arms splayed out and a heavy sigh leaving his lungs.

Then he finally let rationality hit him.

What he’s doing—seeing  _ him. _

It wasn't good for his heart.

Everytime he sees him, his stupid heart takes a lap around the whole fucking planet and he forgets how to breath, only remembering when he feels himself get light-headed.

But Hinata can't help it.

He missed him  _ so _ , so much.

He missed that brilliant smile that would crinkle the corners of those indigo blue eyes.

He missed that musical laugh—missed that  _ voice, _ in general. He could literally be talking about a goddamn  _ stick _ and Hinata would gladly listen to him for hours.

He  _ really _ missed the way his hand felt on his hair. (He was super relieved that he still liked it even without his memories.)

Although it would be best if he didn't touch his hair—or anywhere—for now.

Hinata could never control his temperature around him.

Although it was never a problem before, since Tobio was able to cool him down.

Hinata stared up at the white ceiling. He thought about when they went to that restaurant. He really didn't mean to say he was hungry because he  _ doesn't _ get hungry (and just made a complete imbecile of himself because what the  _ rutsū _ is  _ fast _ food? Food that dissolves fast when eaten? That wasn't the case, however, so why do humans call it that? And those two wooden sticks that are apparently used to eat like  _ how _ —), but he really couldn't think of anything else to say as to why he didn't want to go see the damn cherry blossoms.

He doesn't have a problem with the flower, just the person that  _ wields _ them.

Oikawa Tooru.

He would've been able to sense Tobio and he did  _ not _ want that jerk disrupting his time with him. (He was glad that Tobio had long forgotten about them.)

He got up and began preparing for bed.

As he was about to put on his sleepwear ( _ pyjamas _ just sounded weird to him), he heard a knock on the door.

“Onii-san?”

He frowned heading over to the door.

“Natsu? Why aren't you in—”

He froze, as he swung the door open and saw someone taller standing behind her.

“Tsukki is here!” Natsu chirped, turning around and splaying out her arms towards him, bouncing up and down. “Up, up!”

Tsukishima picked her up with a huff, making a face as if he just picked up something heavy.

“Aren't you getting heavier,” He said, “You're not a little girl anymore, are you?”

Natsu smiled, putting her hands on her hips and pointing her chin upwards. “Nope! I'm a big girl now!”

“Indeed you are,” He chuckled.

Then he finally faced Hinata, who froze under his stare.

“Hinata,” Tsukishima addressed, giving a him a firm nod.

“W-what are you doing here at this hour?” Hinata asked, shifting from one leg to another.

Before answering him, Tsukishima looked back at Natsu and whispered something. She gave him an excited nod and Tsukishima put her down. She ran back to her bedroom.

“Go to sleep, Natsu!” Hinata called after her.

“I will!” She called back.

Tsukishima pushed past him into his room and plopped down onto the bed.

Hinata closed the door and turned around, his stomach dropping when seeing the blank expression on Tsukishima's face.

Tsukishima kept his face blank almost all the time, and maintained it well enough that his feelings won't show through his flower.

Although Yamaguchi mentioned that sure, it's blank expressions, but he has  _ different _ types of blank expressions that help you know what emotion he's displaying.

Throughout the years, Hinata has been able to understand what he meant by that.

For example, when he's annoyed (which is the one Hinata's most familiar with), he’ll blink rapidly for a minute, then sigh quietly through his nose.

When he's happy, he tilts his head and bites the inside of his cheek (Hinata thinks is to stop from smiling) and looks down at the ground.

When he's sad, he’ll walk slow, taking off his glasses once in awhile to massage his eyes. (Hinata could tell mostly when the guy actually let's him babble on and on without telling him to shut up.)

Then there's just literal blank. No little signs to read him at all.

And that means it's something serious. Something’s wrong.

Tsukishima's wearing that one right now.

“W-what?” Hinata dared to ask, preparing himself for whatever was going to come out of the blonde’s mouth.

“It's the King.”

Hinata held his breath.

“What….what about him?”

“He finally found out about us. Being here.”

Hinata’s stomach twisted. He sat down next to Tsukishima.

“But he doesn't know  _ where _ we are,” He continued, “Although I don't think it'll be long before he finds out. It's pretty foreseeable where  _ you’ll _ be.”

Hinata scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

“Soooo what do we do now?”

Tsukishima blinked rapidly, then sighed quietly through his nose.

“What do you think, Hinata?” He said, his voice monotone.

Hinata straightened up, his face becoming stern.

“I'm  _ not _ going back.”

“I wasn't going to say that, you idiot.”

“What?” Hinata blurted, the sternness now being replaced with surprisement.

“We can't possibly go back now. You were cognizant of the dilemmas this situation possessed, correct?”

“Of course,” Hinata sighed, falling backwards on his bed. “If  _ that's _ what you're troubled by, then don't worry. I'll tell him it was all  _ my  _ idea, not yours or Yamaguchi's—”

“That's not the issue,” Tsukishima said, cutting him off. “ _ Yes _ , this whole objective is yours, but Yamaguchi and I didn't concede on coming here because  _ you _ wanted us to. We came on our  _ own _ accord.”

Hinata got up, leaning back on his hands. He stared at Tsukishima.

Tsukishima looked back at him when he noticed the midget staring at him idiotically.

“What?”

“That almost sounded like you were being  _ kind _ .”

Tsukishima rolled his eyes. “The  _ rutsū _ are you talking about?”

“I didn't  _ force _ you to come, which means you came because you  _ wanted _ to.”

“I came solely to keep on eye on you.”

Hinata shrugged, trying to hide a smile.

“Whatever you say~”

Tsukishima rolled his eyes again.

“Whatever. Enough about this. Let's get back on track.”

Hinata smile faded as he was reminded of the current situation.

Tsukishima looked up, a hand going up to the corner of the glasses’ frame, shifting them.

He's thinking.

“I think it's time for the revealing,” He finally announced.

Hinata’s heart was suddenly going a hundred miles a minute.

Not because of fear or nervousness, but because of excitement.

The revealing meant freedom.

No more sneaking around, no more acting oblivious, no more hiding something that's been nesting inside him all these years, unable to escape and express itself in every shape and form to the one he's loved since the day they met.

It meant he could have his Tobio back.

“Calm down, will you? You look like you're having a heart attack.”

“You know us,  _ Hanas _ , can't get heart attacks, Tsukishima.”

“Really? I wasn’t aware of such information— _ of course I fucking know that you stupid shrimp. _ It's a figure of speech.”

Hinata scrunched up his nose. “Figure of speech?”

Tsukishima groaned.

“And we're known to be such intelligent beings. You're really a disgrace, Hinata Shouyou.”

“Hey!” Hinata yelled defensively, smacking Tsukishima on the shoulder. He crossed his arms over his chest and pouted. “And  _ that _ is why I like Yamaguchi  _ better _ .”

“Oh my. My feelings are hurt.”

Hinata huffed, turning away from him, annoyed.

Then he turned back, a thought coming to mind. He tilted his head.

“Where  _ is _ Yamaguchi by the way?”

The only reason he was asking was because they’ve stuck together ever since arriving here.

They always do when they go to Earth, for safety reasons. At the same time, they're just always are.

And that's because of traumatic past events.

But before Tsukishima was able to get an answer out, there was a loud bang, caused by the front door being forcibly opened. Hinata could hear Natsu begin to cry.

Both he and Tsukishima immediately stood up, then realized a second after that they were both still under the nyctinasty that were concealing their flowers, which means they can't use their power.

Hinata’s blood ran cold and stomach twisted with fear. Tsukishima clenched his fists, panic being visibly shown on his face.

With Natsu on Hinata’s mind, he bolted for the door, but swung back just in time as it was wildly flung open, almost hitting Hinata in the face.

It was Yamaguchi.

The relief of it not being a _Kojin_ _Yokai_ only lasted a second in Hinata and Tsukishima as they noticed the expression Yamaguchi’s face wore.

“Tadashi?” Tsukishima said cautiously.

“It's Tobio,” Yamaguchi immediately answered. He looked straight at Hinata as he spoke again.

“He’s missing.”

  
  
  
  


When Kageyama arrived home, his Mother and sister weren't there.

_ Where could they possibly be at this hour? _ He thought after checking the whole house, calling out their names while doing so.

_ They probably went to the store? _

That didn't convince the unsettling feeling rising in his stomach.

His head began aching, so he grabbed a water bottle from the fridge and drank it all. Then he went to his room, dropping onto his bed as he dialed his Mother’s phone number.

A minute didn’t even passed before it went straight to voicemail.

He dialed his sister's phone number.

Straight to voicemail.

_ What the hell? _

He let it play. When it finally reached the beep, he said, “Uh, hey, Hitoka. It's me, Tobio. I'm calling since you guys aren't home and just wanted to know where you guys were, but uh, both yours and Mother’s phones are going straight to voicemail which is a little...strange.

“...Are you guys okay? I'm starting to get worried. Please call me back as soon as you can.”

_ Boop. _

He stared at his phone for awhile after ending the call, biting his lower lip and bouncing a leg up and down to calm down his nerves.

_ Stop it. You're overthinking, Tobio. Stop thinking about the worst. they're okay. _

_ Don't. Over. think. _

He let out a sigh.

And then—

_ Tick. Tick. Tick. _

Kageyama froze.

What was that?

He listened more carefully.

_ Silence. _

He groaned.

He was tired of this bullshit.

He began seeing things awhile ago. Now he's  _ hearing _ things?

_ Give me a fucking break, please. _

He put his phone on his nightstand and went to his closet to get pyjamas.

_ Tick. Tick. Tick. _

Kageyama froze up again, whipping his head to the left of his closet.

He waited.

_ Tick. Tick. Tick. _

Kageyama dove into his laundry basket, pulling out his clothes in a frenzy, not caring about the huge mess he was making because of it.

_ Tick. Tick. Tick. _

He stopped, looking behind him.

Then he sees it.

Red light emitting from the pocket of one of his pants.

_ Tick. Tick. Tick. _

The red light flashed along with the ticks, but continued to still glow after it ended.

Kageyama walked warily up to the pants.

He grabbed it by one of the belt loops, hanging it up in front of his face.

He stared at the red light and got startled as it began flashing with the three ticks again.

He gingerly put his hand inside the pocket, and felt his fingers touch plastic.

He frowned at the harmless feeling, but still kept his guard up. He took it out.

It was the button Taketora gave him.

Kageyama was so relieved that he wasn't able to stop himself from dropping to the ground.

“Jesus christ,” He mumbled to himself as he let go of his pants and used the free hand to massage his eyes. “God  _ damn _ —”

He ran his hand down his face, then  rested his cheek on it. He stared down at the button.

The light was coming from the front side, from the brown circle in the middle.

_ Tick. Tick. Tick. _

Weird.

He didn't remember seeing a battery compartment on the button.

He flipped it over.

He frowned.

He was right. There wasn't one.

He flipped it back to the light.

_ Tick. Tick. Tick. _

What did the ticking mean?

Then Kageyama was reminded about how Taketora told him to keep it on him at all times.

Oops.

Kageyama didn't understand why though.

Why does he have to carry around a button?

Especially a button that ticks and glows and he doesn't understand how the hell it's doing so.

He thought about how long it was ticking and glowing for. Thinking about how if he  _ did _ remember to bring the button with him, it might've disrupted his time with Hinata.

It probably was a good thing he didn't remember about it.

He got up and walked back to his bed, putting the button next to his phone on the nightstand.

He stared at it for a few minutes before going back to his closet.

_ Tick. Tick. Tock. _

The new noise made Kageyama whip his head back to the button.

This was getting a little creepy.

Why did it suddenly start to tock?

_ Tick. Tock. _

He went and picked it up again.

Kageyama was starting to wonder if it was even a button in the first place.

He didn't want to think that Taketora would give him something harmful. He might be an asshole, but he wasn't a bad guy. There's a difference.

_ Tick. Tock. _

Without thinking, he put it inside the pocket of his pants.

He frowned, confused at his own actions.

But for some odd reason, it felt right.

_ Tick. tock. tick tock tick tock tick tock— _

His whole body stiffened from the sudden rapidness it picked up halfway through.

He started to panic as the tick-tocking kept going.

As he reached for it, something made him stop.

The hairs on the back of his neck suddenly went up.

“Miss me?”

Kageyama spun around instantly towards the voice, almost tripping over his feet.

It was a man. Shirtless.

His neck was wrapped with some type of dark, green rope.

And he had plum-colored sticks in a shape of a rainbow behind his head.

The man tilted his head thoughtfully at Kageyama, narrowing his eyes.

“Your memories were erased once again, huh? You poor thing. That little forget-me-not boy isn’t going to be able to keep on doing that to you, since almost half your memories were already taken away. Otherwise,  _ all _ your memories will be erased.”

“Who are you?” Kageyama snarled, backing up against his bed.

“Kuroo!” The man piped. “Although you know that already.”

“What?”

Kageyama was utterly addled by it, but he strangely got the feeling that he  _ did _ know who he was. That they’ve met before.

“Don’t worry,” Kuroo assured, “Yaku will fix you.”

Before Kageyama could protest any further, his nose was invaded with the smell of Hershey’s chocolate.

His eyes began to flutter, mind becoming foggy, and his movements started to slow down.

“What did you…” He trailed off, not being able to speak anymore as he fell down to the ground.

Kuroo walked up and hovered over him. His vision was getting blurry, but Kageyama was able to make out the smirk on his face.

Kageyama was also able to hear the next words he spoke before he blacked out.

“It's finally time to go back home, little blue boy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter~
> 
> Next chapter is when everything will finally be revealed! So look forward to that ;)
> 
> I know I say this on almost every chapter I post, but you're dealing with a girl that has OCD and everything needs to be perfect (jk, but not really lol), but sorry if there was any errors I didn't catch!
> 
> Feedback is much appreciated <3


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